George Enescu Festival 2009

The Festival ended.
Long live the Festival!

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......It was my third festival. But this was the best experience so far. It was a challenge to attend so many concerts in only one month. Concerts for breakfast, tea-time concerts, evening delights, midnight greatness... Symphony, chamber music, recitals, opera, ballet, jazz... Palace Hall, Athenaeum, Opera House, National Theatre. There were 38 in total (no pictures for 3 of them). It was a rush, a hurricane sometimes. But I faced it and I'm so proud that all these amazing soloists and orchestras came to Bucharest.
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Some facts and figures, for you to see how big everything was:
- the program of the Festival included 280 works: 24 works by George Enescu, 80 works of Romanian contemporary music, 10 operas&ballets
- there were 175 events/concerts and over 1800 artists from abroad and 1300 Romanian artists took part in them.
- 13 symphonic orchestras from Europe, 14 chamber orchestras, 19 chamber groups, 6 choires, 41 soloists in concerts, 6 soloists in recital.
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- there were given 12 medals - "Cultural Order of Romania"
* Maxim Vengerov - conductor
* Dimitri Kitajenko - conductor
* Christian Zacharias - conductor and pianist
* Roberto Abbado - conductor
* Murray Perahia - conductor and pianist
* Vladimir Ashkenazy - conductor and pianist
* Yuri Temirkanov - conductor
* Yo Yo Ma - cello player
* Mariss Jansons - conductor
* Mischa Maisky - cello player
* Elisabeta Leonskaia - pianist
* Marek Janovski - conductor
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- sold out events:
* Palace Hall - 8th, 11th, 12th, 17th and 26th September
* National Theatre - both "La Belle" performances
* Romanian Opera House - YoYo Ma and the Roadsilk Ensamble
* Palace Small Hall - Swingle Singers
* Athenaeum - Murray Perahia, Elisabeta Leonskaia and all midnight concerts
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- 40.000 people in Festival Square (for the free open air concerts)
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- logistics:
* 6000 nights of accommodation in 9 hotels
* 20 charter flights
* 300 flight tickets on regular flights
* 8 small cars, 4 vans, 6 busses and 3 trucks - used every day
* more than 60 people that worked 24/24, 7/7 for one month
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I have my favorites. Of all I've seen and heard, I chose these:
* Symphonic - Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Concertgebouw conducted by Mariss Jansons (closely followed by Philharmonia conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy)
* Chamber music - Laussane Chamber Orchestra conducted by Christian Zacharias
* Recital - Elisabeta Leonskaia
* Opera and ballet - Monte Carlo Ballet with "La Belle"
* Swingle Singers
* Natalie Dessay
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A lot of people attended. I hope those who were there for the first time learned something. Please, next time, turn off your phones, stop caughing, if you're bored, stay at home, read something about those who'll perform in front of you, don't read the newspaper during the concert, don't open the fuzzy water bottle when it's complete silence, don't applaud in between the parts (if you're not sure, look at the people next to you or at the conductor. His gestures will let you know when it's over).
......In the end, thanks to all the people involved, to Mr Holender who talked to all these people and made them come to a place they might have not heard of before (aka Bucharest/Romania), to Mr Constantinescu, the Director of Artexim, who was everywhere all the time making sure everything goes well. To the 60 or more young people that dedicated more than 2 months of their lives to put the Festival together (they took care of accommodation, transportations, catering, meals, rehearsals, press, guests and everything else). Thanks to all the institutions involved, to all the sponsors and other great people that contributed. Thanks to the artists that came here and received all our love and gratitude every day.
......Thank you, my readers, who followed the blog every day, made comments or just looked at the pictures. Hope you enjoyed this event as much as I did. This post will remain on the first page a few more days. After that you'll find it on the right side of the blog. I have to do this as I'll attend more concerts/operas in the close future.
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See you again in 2011,
for the 20th edition of "George Enescu" International Festival!

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Orchestre de Suisse Romande/Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Palace Hall - 26.09
Munchener Philharmoniker Kammerorchester/Marin Cazacu - Athenaeum - 26.09
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Natalie Dessay - Athenaeum - 25.09
Bavarian Radio Orchestra / Mariss Jansons - Palace Hall - 24.09
Elisabeta Leonskaia - Athenaeum - 24.09

Natalie Dessay - press conference - 24.09
The Swingle Singers - 23.09
Orchestre du Capitole Toulouse/Tugan Sokhiev/Nelson Freire-Palace Hall-22.09

Mischa Maisky - Athenaeum - 21.09
National Radio Orchestra/Asher Fisch/Julian Rachlin - Palace Hall - 21.09

Teodor Ilincai / Anita Hartig - Festival Square - 20.09
Monte Carlo Ballet / La Belle / National Theatre - 20.09

Sostakovich & Beethoven/Concertgebouw/Mariss Jansons - Palace Hall - 20.09
Schubert / Wiener Kammerorchestre / Heinrich Schiff - Athenaeum - 18.09
Sankt Petersburg Orchestra/Yuri Temirkanov / Helene Grimaud-Palace Hall - 17.09
Philharmonia / Vladimir Ashkenazy / Dan Grigore - Palace Hall - 16.09
Saint Martin in the Fields / Murray Perahia - Athenaeum - 15.09
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino/Nikolai Lugansy/Cristian Mandeal - Palace Hall - 14.09

Haydn Re-reloaded - LCO / Christian Zacharias - Athenaeum - 13.09
Manon Lescaut - Daniela Dessi / Fabio Armiliato / Keri-Lynn Wilson - 13.09
Haydn Reloaded - LCO / Christian Zacharias / Marc Broillet - Athenaeum - 12.09
Saint Saens, Lalo and Ravel - RPO/Andreescu/Joshua Bell - Palace Hall - 12.09
Prague Sinfonia / Christian Benda / Jean-Phillipe Collard - Athenaeum - 12.09
Haydn - Lausanne Chamber Orchestra / Christian Zacharias - Athenaeum - 11.09
Enescu, Mussorgsky and Beethoven - RPO/Nigel Kennedy/Charles Dutoit - 11.09
Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky - Rudolf Buchbinder / Dimitrij Kitajenko - 10.09
Faure Quartett - Athenaeum - 10.09
Stravinsky and Enescu - Dimitrij Kitajenko - Palace Hall - 09.09

Beethoven's Triple Concert&5th Symphony - Maxim Vengerov conducting - 08.09
Il Giardino Armonico - Marie-Claude Chappuis - Athenaeum - 06.09
Rehearsal with Maxim Vengerov - Palace Hall - 06.09
Otello - Gazale/Farina/Gurban - Romanian Opera House - 05.09
"Firebird" - communitary dance - National Theatre - 05.09
Oedipe reloaded with reviews in the Festival's Journal - 02.09
Oedipe - Franco Ferrari - Romanian Opera House - 30.08
Articles about the Festival in Romanian and international press




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