George Enescu International Festival Announces Milestone Program in 2025

Photo credit: Alex Damian

Bucharest, Romania (January 21, 2025) – The 27th edition of the George Enescu International Festival – the world’s largest convening of major orchestras – will be held in Bucharest, Romania from August 24 to September 21, 2025. Named in honor of the great Romanian composer George Enescu, this milestone edition of the festival marks 70 years since the composer’s passing, which will be observed across the four-week event with reflections on Enescu’s artistic legacy and profound influence on international classical music. Under Artistic Director Cristian Măcelaru, returning for the second Enescu Festival of his tenure, the concert schedule highlights multiple international premieres and landmark reinterpretations of key works spanning classical music’s finest repertoire. The program also features exhibitions, lectures and a symposium dedicated to George Enescu. Some 4,000 artists from Romania and abroad are expected to attend, along with musicologists, composers, students and classical music enthusiasts. Besides its main program based in Bucharest, the festival also incorporates concerts and celebrations in cities and towns across Romania. Subscriptions can be purchased here, with individual ticket sales beginning February 15, 2025.

Măcelaru, the renowned Romanian-born conductor who trained in the United States, has infused this year’s festival with cross-generational programming celebrating both tradition and innovation in classical music, along with offerings for children and families. Over more than 95 concerts to be staged across Bucharest, the festival features upwards of 45 works by George Enescu. Highlights will include his opera Oedipe in a production by the Bucharest National Opera directed by Stefano Poda – with a mixed Romanian and international cast – as well as Enescu’s symphonies, Romanian Rhapsodies, orchestral suites, Symphonie Concertante for cello and orchestra, Ballade for violin and orchestra and many other chamber, choral and solo pieces. Măcelaru himself conducts the Festival’s opening concert, featuring the George Enescu Philharmonic and Choir with soloist Nemanja Radulovic, winner of the Violin section in the 2001 George Enescu International Competition.

More than 80 ensembles from 28 countries, including symphony orchestras, choirs, and chamber ensembles, will perform both in Bucharest and other cities across Romania, among them the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de France; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Eva Duda Dance Company of Hungary, Belcea and Lenkoro String Quartets, Il Giardino Armonico, Accademia Bizantina and The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields. The National Chamber Orchestra of Chișinău will also return to Bucharest, performing at the Romanian Athenaeum under the direction of Cristian Florea. Among the schedule’s notable performances, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will give two concerts conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson at Bucharest’s Grand Palace Hall. 

Among the distinguished guest artists for this 27th edition of the festival are conductors Keri-Lynn Wilson, Ustina Dubitsky, Marta Gardolińska, Daniele Gatti, Sir Andras Schiff, Ivan Fischer, Klaus Mäkelä, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Lahav Shani, Petr Popelka, Tarmo Peltokoski, Vasily Petrenko, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda and Cristian Măcelaru; plus pianists Rudolf Buchbinder, Martha Argerich, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kirill Gerstein, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alexandre Kantorow and Nelson Goerner; violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, David Grimal, Nemanja Radulović, Julian Rachlin, Augustin Hadelich and Christian Tetzlaff; cellists Kian Soltani, Sol Gabetta and Gautier Capuçon; sopranos Asmik Grigorian, Pretty Yende, Kristine Opolais, Jennifer Holloway, Magdalena Kožená and Rachel Willis-Sørensen; mezzo-sopranos Judit Kutasi, Ruxandra Donose and Ramona Zaharia; tenors Benjamin Bernheim, Gerhard Siegel and Nikolai Schukoff; and baritones Bogdan Baciu, Ionuț Pascu; basses Vazgen Gazaryan, Alastair Miles, Riccardo Novaro and Andreas Bauer Kanabas.

Besides being a world-class celebration of classical music and Romania’s greatest composer, the George Enescu International Festival is known as a leading forum for young musicians and a showcase of top Romanian talent. The program will shine a light on rising stars of the Romanian classical music scene, as well as laureates of the George Enescu International Competition – the other half of this quintessential Romanian cultural initiative – fostering opportunities for international collaboration. For this edition of the festival, the Romanian Youth Orchestra will perform a concert alongside the renowned Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck, as well as in an independent concert led by conductor Christian Reif. Winners of the 2024 Enescu Competition will perform with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra with Renaud Capuçon, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic conducted by Lahav Shani and Romanian Orchestras conducted by Alex Amsel, Omar El Jamali and Eu-Lee Nam – top performers in the conducting masterclass held as part of the 2024 Enescu Competition.

Romanian performers to be highlighted at the festival include the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the National Orchestra, the Radio Chamber Orchestra and Academic Choir, the Orchestra and Choir of the National Opera of Bucharest, the Romanian Youth Orchestra, the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Sibiu, the Transylvania Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir from Cluj Napoca, the Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra of Iași, the Mihail Jora Philharmonic of Bacău, the Banatul Philharmonic Orchestra of Timișoara, the Camerata Regală, the Preludiu Choir, the Arcadia Quartet from Cluj Napoca and the Ad Libitum Quartet of Iași; as well as conductors Cristian Măcelaru, Cristian Mandeal, Gabriel Bebeșelea and Constantin Grigore; choir masters Ciprian Țuțu, Iosif Ion Prunner and Andrei Stănculescu; pianists Alexandra Dariescu, Alexandra Silocea, Andrei Gologan and Luiza Borac; cellist Andrei Ioniță; Moldavian violinist Alexandra Conunova; and Romanian violinists Alexandru Tomescu, Valentin Șerban, Mihaela Martin and Ioana Cristina Goicea, to name just a few. 

The George Enescu International Festival is held in alternating years with the George Enescu International Competition, together representing a key initiative of the Romanian Ministry of Culture and its ARTEXIM subsidiary, organizer of both events. As in previous years, this edition of the Festival has received the High Patronage of the President of Romania.