Tulcea is the city that has hosted for 20 decades now, an annual contest of Musical Performance. It is somehow a miraculous thing for the Romanian mentality, because regardless of political changes occurring in the local authorities, or in the management of the Arts High School, the competition has continued to be the most important cultural event of May, in the city. And this is not something out of importance, because in Tulcea, last weekend, the musical contest was in its development in parallel with an outdoor international festival - the 12th Festival of Shepherds - and complementary to the Night of Museums from Bucharest, the City Hall from Tulcea launched another opportunity for its inhabitants to leave the house and to visit museums for free of their city, such as the Danube Delta Eco Center, Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art and Museum of History and Archaeology.

So, in a city with a manifest cultural calling, the Contest that honors the memory of the conductor George Georgescu, born in Sulina, 125 years ago, began Thursday, May 17^th, with a ceremony in which director of Arts High school, Mrs. Roxana Sava gave anniversary medals to all the persons that during the 20 sessions were involved in supporting and organizing the competition; during this ceremony two films - very inspired and well structured in the given context - were broadcast: one of them about the history of the competition, made by a studio television from the city, and the other about master George Georgescu, signed by Ivona Cristescu, one of the best compere of TVR Cultural. The evening ended with the recitals of two young musicians, who are students of Music High School 'George Enescu' and winners of the Grand Prizes of the Contest in Tulcea, in 2011 and 2007, and whose names are linked in a way with Radio Romania Musical : pianist Ionuţ Cibotariu winner of the II ^nd Prize and Special Prize awarded by the 'Lipatti' Foundation within the Piano Contest 'Lipatti`s Days', which was organized by R.R.M. in 2011; and then cellist Ştefan Cazacu, semifinalist at New Talent Contest from Bratislava, a competition, which is ongoing, that he went in for to the suggestion of Radio Romania Musical. Stephen was accompanied by Iulian Ochescu, a pianist with many awards that he has gathered within his 17 years. The programs of the recitals were somehow short, but welcomed for such a festive evening, offering to the public well chosen and well-known works, and I can mention, as an example, N. Rimsky- Korsakov`s 'The Flight of the Bumblebee', played by Ştefan Cazacu and Iulian Ochescu, which ended the first evening of the 'George Georgescu' Competition.

The following two days - Friday and Saturday, 18^th and 19^th - were dedicated exclusively to the competition. The jury, composed of professos Şerban Dimitrie Soreanu, as President, Monica Noveanu, Valeriu Maior, Ioan Goilă, Adrian Stoica, Vasile Ţugui, Cătălin Ştefănescu Pătraşcu, Ionel Voineag, Eleonora Enăchescu, Ioan Haplea, Dalila Cernătescu and concert-master of the Radio Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Manasi, evaluated the artistry of more than 270 competitors that went in the competition accordingly with their instrument section: piano, violin, cello, wind instruments, dulcimer, vocal and chamber music.

The next morning, during the Gala, there came again in front of the jury the best-ranked competitors in each section. And the best of them - selected by the vote of the jury - will be awarded the Grand Prize, 1,000 €. The Grand Prize - accordingly to the tradition of the contest - will be handed in to the winner by the daughter of conductor George Georgescu, Ioana Georgescu Răileanu.

The review of the 20 editions of the 'George Georgescu' International Competition is absolutely impressive and I'll read some figures: 5290 competitors coming from 36 counties and 15 countries of origin. Over time, competitors were included in 20 categories, meaning as many instruments, and the contest summed to 400 hours. That happens in a city having less than 100,000 inhabitants and an Art School with 350 students studying four specialties - art, architecture, theater and music.