The 27th edition of the George Enescu International Festival opens on 24 August, inviting audiences on a sonic journey themed "Anniversaries / Celebrations", marking 70 years since the death of composer George Enescu.According to a press release from Artexim sent on Tuesday, this year's edition will bring together over 4,000 artists from 28 countries in more than 95 concerts hosted in venues including the Palace Hall, Romanian Athenaeum, Auditorium Hall of the National Museum of Art of Romania, Radio Hall, Odeon Theatre, MINA - Museum of New Immersive Art, as well as the National Opera House Bucharest and the "I.L. Caragiale" National Theatre.The opening concert, performed by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Cristian Macelaru (the festival's artistic director), will take place on Sunday, 24 August.The evening's programme includes a Romanian premiere - Concerto for Orchestra by Dan Dediu, followed by Aram Khachaturian's Violin Concerto in D minor, with Nemanja Radulovic as soloist, and George Enescu's Romanian Poem. The concert will feature multimedia projections directed by Nona Ciobanu and Peter Kosir.Over the course of four weeks, Bucharest will host internationally renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Rudolf Buchbinder, Alexandre Kantorow, Bruce Liu, Isabelle Faust, Gautier Capuçon, Asmik Grigorian, Jennifer Holloway, Kristine Opolais, Kian Soltani, Alexandra Dariescu, Andrei Ionita, Valentin Radutiu, Leif Ove Andsnes, Jan Lisiecki, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Valentin Serban, and many others.Top orchestras will perform, including: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Les Si?cles, Il Giardino Armonico, Accademia Bizantina, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Romanian National Radio Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.Works by George Enescu will feature in 45 performances at the festival. These include symphonic poems Isis and Vox Maris, Pastorale-Fantaisie, the Romanian Rhapsodies, the Symphonies, Suita Sateasca, chamber music, vocal-symphonic works, and the opera Oedipe, staged at the Bucharest National Opera House by director Stefano Poda, with a stellar cast including Ionut Pascu, Ruxandra Donose, Ramona Zaharia and Vazgen Gazaryan.Audiences will also experience Maurice Ravel's L'Heure espagnole directed by Tompa Gábor, the dance performance Les Saisons by Malandain Ballet Biarritz (at the Bucharest National Theatre-TNB's Main Hall), and the choreographic work DinDor'NdoR by Gigi Caciuleanu, performed by the Sibiu Ballet Theatre at the TNB Studio Hall. Additionally, seven other operas in concert will be performed, including Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.A pioneering component of the 2025 edition is the ENESCU - JTI IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE series at MINA - Museum of New Immersive Art, offering immersive concerts that combine classical music, contemporary dance, artificial intelligence, animation and visual arts.Young musicians, laureates of the Enescu International Competition, will perform alongside major global orchestras. The edition also continues its family and children's series, with interactive and friendly concerts at the Odeon Theatre.Also returning are the Midnight Concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum, known for their unique ambiance, chamber recitals at the MNAR Auditorium, and extraordinary concerts at the Radio Hall.Tickets for the George Enescu International Festival concerts are available online at Eventim.ro (https://www.cts.eventim.ro/artist/festivalul-george-enescu), and in physical format at Carrefour hypermarkets and Carturesti and Humanitas bookshops.A project funded by the Romanian Government through the Ministry of Culture, the Enescu Festival, first held in 1958, takes place under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.
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