Celebrations at George Enescu International Festival 2025

This year’s edition of the George Enescu International Festival, the richest ever, marks several celebrations, which is also the theme of the event taking place in Bucharest between August 24 and September 21.
This year marks seven decades since George Enescu’s death, bringing to the fore both his artistic legacy and his impact on world music. More than 4,000 artists from Romania and around the world will be in Bucharest for the 29-day event, which will feature more than 95 concerts and performances grouped into seven main series. The concerts in the festival’s main program will include more than 45 performances of George Enescu’s works, including the opera “Oedipe”, in a production by Stefano Poda of the Bucharest National Opera (ONB). Under the baton of conductor Tiberiu Soare, internationally renowned musicians such as Ionuț Pascu as Oedipus, Ruxandra Donose as Iocasta, Ramona Zaharia as Sphinx, Bogdan Baciu as Creon, and Paul Curievici and Vazgen Gazarian as Laios and the High Priest will perform.
The Symphonies, Romanian Rhapsodies, Orchestral Suites, Concerto Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Ballade for Violin and Orchestra and many other chamber, choral and solo works will be performed by some of the world’s leading orchestras.
This year’s 27th edition brings to the ONB stage another opera performed by the Valencia Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan – Maurice Ravel’s Spanish Hour, on the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Seven other operas in concert version will be presented on the stages of the Palace Hall and the Romanian Athenaeum, as announced by Cristian Măcelaru, artistic director of the festival.

Immersive concerts at MINA

In addition to the well-known concert series at the Palace Hall, the Ateneu Concerts, the Midnight Concerts, the Concerts at the Radio Hall, the Concerts at the Auditorium Hall of the MNAR and the series of concerts for families and children at the Odeon Theatre, the maestro Cristian Măcelaru proposes for this edition an innovative program that will especially attract young audiences not necessarily familiar with classical music. The new series of performances combining music and visual arts, entitled JTI Immersive Experience, takes place at MINA – Museum of Immersive New Art, on Thursday and Friday evenings from 20:00. The 27th edition of the George Enescu International Festival honors important moments in the life, creation and activity of the great musicians, composers and orchestras invited to Bucharest in 2025: alongside Enescu’s works, there will be performances of works by Dmitri Shostakovich (50 years since his death), Pierre Boulez (100 years since his birth), Maurice Ravel (150 years since his birth), Arvo Part (90 years since his birth). It is also the 100th anniversary of the birth of the conductor Marin Constantin, as well as the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Bremen Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, the 100th anniversary of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Transilvania Philharmonic Orchestra in Cluj Napoca.

Guest artists

Cristian Măcelaru will conduct the festival’s opening concert at the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest. Among the artists invited for the 27th edition are conductors Keri-Lynn Wilson, Ustina Dubitsky, Marta Gardolińska, Daniele Gatti, Sir Andras Schiff, Ivan Fischer, Klaus Mäkelä, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Daniel Harding, Giovanni Antonini, Paavo Järvi, Lahav Shani, Petr Popelka, Cristian Mandeal, Tarmo Peltokoski, Gabriel Bebeșelea, Constantin Grigore, Vasily Petrenko, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda, pianists Rudolf Buchbinder, Martha Argerich, Jean Yves Thibaudet, Kirill Gerstein, Lucas & Arthur Jussen, Alexandra Dariescu, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexandre Kantorow, Nelson Goerner, Daniel Ciobanu, Luiza Borac, Jan Lisiecki, violinists Anne Sophie Mutter, Isabel Faust, Nemanja Radulović, Augustin Hadelich, Ioana Cristina Goicea, Alexandru Tomescu, Christian Tetzlaff, Daniel Lozakovich. They will be joined by cellists Kian Soltani, Sol Gabetta, Gautier Capuçon, Andrei Ioniță, Valentin Răduțiu, Marc Coppey, sopranos Asmik Grigorian, Pretty Yende, Kristine Opolais, Jennifer Holloway, Magdalena Kožená Rachel Willis-Sørensen, mezzo-sopranos Judit Kutasi, Ruxandra Donose, Ramona Zaharia, tenors Benjamin Bernheim, Gerhard Siegel, Nikolai Schukoff, baritones Bogdan Baciu, Ionuț Pascu, basses Vazgen Gazaryan, Alastair Miles, Riccardo Novaro, Andreas Bauer Kanabas. Some of the most prestigious orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles have been invited to support the program dedicated to the composer George Enescu – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Orchestra of the National Academy Santa Cecilia, Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne, WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zürich, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Frankfurt, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Il Giardino Armonico with the NFM Choir of Wroclaw, Warsaw Sinfonia, Accademia Bizantina, Les Siècles and Ensemble Intercontemporain, Latvian Radio Choir, Estonian Chamber Choir, London Voices, Radio Choirs and Orchestras, George Enescu Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Arcadia, Belcea, Lenkoro, Ad Libitum Quartets. The Romanian Youth Orchestra is invited to perform a concert together with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the baton of conductor Manfred Honeck, as well as a solo concert under the baton of conductor Christian Reif, both in the Great Hall of the Palace.

From Enescu Competition to Enescu Festival

The winners of the 2024 edition of the George Enescu International Competition are programmed alongside internationally renowned orchestras and musicians such as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Renaud Capuçon, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lahav Shani, or the Orchestra Camerata Regală, under the baton of Alex Amsel, participant of the conducting masterclass of the Enescu Competition 2024. The program will include international premieres and outstanding re-interpretations of landmark works from the world repertoire. Exhibitions, lectures, a symposium dedicated to George Enescu will also be organized – together with traditional and non-traditional partners – with the participation of musicologists, composers, students and classical music lovers. They will provide an opportunity to explore new perspectives on his works and share recent research on the composer. Subscriptions for the series of concerts are on sale on the eventim.ro platform, with individual tickets going on sale from February 15, 2025. The “George Enescu” International Festival takes place under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, being a cultural project funded by the Romanian Government through the Ministry of Culture and organized by Artexim.