Barren opens prestigious Romanian music festival
Barren opens prestigious Romanian music festival
BUCHAREST: Daniel Barenboim, the world-famous conductor, opened the Ensue international music festival in Bucharest on Sunday, one of the most prestigious events in the arts calendar.
Barenboim conducted with the internationally acclaimed pianist Rada Lupu and the Berin Staatskapelle orchestra.
The event will see more than 4000 artistes come together to celebrate the work of Romania’s greatest musician, George Ensue, who violinist Yehudi Menuhin described as “the absolute by which I judge all others”.
Among the distinguished guests who will perform are the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Academia Santa Cecilia in Rome, the London royal philharmonic and conductors Antonio Pompano and Mari’s Jansons.
The rising Chinese piano star Yuja wang will play with the Pittsburgh symphonic Orchestra.
The festival is expected to draw some 120,000 spectators, including 20,000 people from outside Romania.”It is very rare to see such a density of top musicians over such a short period, “loan holender, the former director of the Vienna state opera, told AFP.
Romanian-born holender is acting as artistic director of the festival and has been trying for years to make Enescu’s music better known around the world.
Enesu was born in the village of liven in northern Romania to a family of 12. his first violin lessons came from a local roman faddier. He entered the Vienna conservatory at the age of 7, graduating with distinction as a violinist at the age of 10.
His played to Brahms and knew Bartok, strauss, ravel, Debussy and Shostakovich.
Acclaimed internationally as a violinist, he was less known in the west as a composer through he wrote operas like “Oedipal”, rhapsodies and symphonies inspired by Romanian traditional music.
In 1958, the Enescu festival was setup in Bucharest to pay tribute to his music. The biennial festival was banned by the communist regime in 1971 but came back to life after the fail of dictator Nicolae Ceausessu in 1989.
During the festival, concerts will also take place on the streets, in cafes and even in tribunals. Contemporary artists will expose their works in public squares.
