The Romanian government is looking for ways to fund the 2015 George Enescu classical music festival, deciding the success of the ongoing event has outweighed its big price tag.

The festival's budget this year, some EUR 9 million, came almost entirely from the state coffers, with less than EUR 1 million covered by the sale of tickets and private donations.

But having earned the country the nickname 'the classical music capital of the world", Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said the festival should be supported.

'It is a very successful event, a great pride for Romania, made with huge efforts," he said.

"I had the opportunity to speak to a friend from another country, who came to Bucharest for the festival, and he told me the price for a show in Paris is almost the same as the one month subscription in Bucharest. I was thinking we are a generous state to subsidize tickets and then we could subsidise even more.”

The costly event has the chance to become the first in Europe, according to Culture Minister Daniel Barbu, who added that nobody plans to give up on this 'national treasure'.

Usually sold out soon after subscriptions are out on sale, event attracts tourists from around the world to Romania for the entire month of September once every two years.

The festival opened with a concert by the Staatskapelle orchestra in Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

It will take place until September 28 in Bucharest and other Romanian cities and will bring some of the best artists of the moment on stage in Romania, including pianist Yuja Wang, together with famous orchestras, such as Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

One of the most charismatic American actors, John Malkovich, two times nominated for Academy Award, will come for the first time in Romania in September this year, when he will play the role of a serial killer in The Infernal Comedy – Confessions of a Serial Killer.

The event is part of the George Enescu festival program, which also includes Vortice Dance Company’s Dracula show and Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung (Der Ring des Nibelungen) tetralogy perfomance.

As many as 20,000 foreign tourists are expected to arrive in Bucharest for the festival, as around 20,000 tickets and subscriptions were sold to foreigners.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Enescu festival on Facebook, photographer Andrei Gindac)