A musical journey through the universe of folk tales set to music by Russian composers is scheduled to take place at the Radio Hall, at 7 PM. The programme including these symphonic valuable works will begin with the famous overture of the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka) - a work based on Alexander Pushkin's fairy tale about the abduction of the beautiful Lyudmila by an evil sorcerer - and will end in the universe of the One Thousand and One Nights, with Scheherezade (by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) - a symphonic suite which combines the characteristics of Russian compositions with surprising accents of Oriental origin. Virgil Zvorişteanu will perform the violin solo in the popular composition.

Music lovers will also be able to listen to the Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, a creation of another important Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich, with the participation of the very young cello player, Ştefan Cazacu. The journey through the universe of Russian music and immortal folk tales will be lead by conductor Cristian Măcelaru.

For further information on the 2012-2013 season of the Radio Orchestras and Choirs, please visit the website: orchestre.srr.ro.

Tickets are available on www.bilete.ro, at the Romanian Post offices marked Bilete.ro, as well as at the Radio Hall's box office.

A rising conductor, Cristian Măcelaru started his career alongside the Philadelphia Orchestra, he was then appointed Assistant Conductor of the same orchestra during the 2010-2011 season and this year he was awarded Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award. He studied under Larry Rachleff at Rice University and completed a Master of Music degree in conducting. Being also trained as a violinist, Cristian Măcelaru was concertmaster of the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, having made his debut alongside the same orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, at the age of nine.

Interested in training and supporting young musicians, Cristian Măcelaru has founded the Crisalis Music Project. The 2011-2012 season included collaborations with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera, and others.

Cristian Măcelaru will collaborate with the Orchestre Métropolitain Montreal, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Born in 1994, young cellist Ştefan Cazacu started studying cello with his father, cellist Marin Cazacu, at the age of six. When he was only nine, he won his first awards during national competitions, and since then he has annually won first prize in the most prestigious national competitions.

He has given recitals in Bucureşti, Braşov, Sinaia, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Sfântu-Gheorghe, Tulcea, and Suceava, as well as for several radio and television programmes.

In 2007, he performed the Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, by P. I. Tchaikovsky, alongside the Botoșani State Philharmonic, and in 2008, the Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, by Camille Saint-Saëns, alongside the 'Muntenia' Philharmonic Orchestra of Târgovişte and later alongside the Radio Chamber Orchestra, performances which were highly acclaimed .

The Actualitatea muzicală magazine awarded him the 2009 prize for the most promising young talent and in 2010 he won the Eurovision Young Musicians Grand Prize - Romania. In the same year, Ştefan Cazacu performed Dvořák's concerto alongside the Brașov Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Horia Andreescu. Ştefan Cazacu represented Romania in the semi-final of the 'New Talent' competition in Bratislava - the 2012 edition - held under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union.