The first concert will take place in the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest on the evening of March 17^th, starting from 18:30. The event also marks 140 years since the foundation of the Romanian Youth Society and 10 years since the foundation of the Romanian Youth Orchestra.

The concert will feature the Rhapsody no. 2 by George Enescu, the Hungarian Fantasy S123 and the Piano and orchestra concerto no. 2 by Liszt, where the soloist will be the Bulgarian pianist Plamena Mangova; during the second part of the evening, the audience will hear Rachmaninoff's Symphony no. 2.

Pianist Plamena Mangova is very passionate artistic presence, having lived up to the international prizes she has won by giving impressive solo performances alongside the greatest orchestras of the world, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Torino Orchestra, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic and others.

The same program will be performed again on March 18^th in the Theatre Hall in Ruse in the context of the International March Music Days Festival, which is currently at its 58^th edition and where the Romanian Youth Orchestra has become a perennial guest.

There will be two more concerts in the Republic of Moldova on March 20^th starting from 18:00, at the Organ Hall in Chișinău, and on March 21^st starting from 18:00 at the 'Vasile Alecsandri' National Theatre in Bălți. Both evenings will be organized with the help of the 'Mihai Eminescu' Romanian Cultural Institute in Chișinău.

The Romanian Youth Orchestra under the baton of Cristian Mandeal will perform the Rhapsody no. 2 by George Enescu and the Symphony no. 2 by Rachmaninoff. This time, the two pieces will frame Saint-Saëns's spectacular work, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso op. 28 for violin and orchestra, with Dan Iulian Druțac as the soloist.

The director of the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre, cellist Marin Cazacu had this to say: "In the tradition of the 'Tinerimea Română' Society, the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre has the noble cultural mission of generating important changes in the mentality of young people and of the people coming to our concerts and shows and follow the professionalism, enthusiasm and optimism that these young people instill to the Romanian musical life. In the year of the 100^th Anniversary of the Great Union, when we also celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the Folklore Ensemble 'Cununa Carpaților', the 46^th anniversary of the 'Preludiu' Chamber Choir, the 33^rd anniversary of the Archaeus Ensemble, the 12^th anniversary of the Arcadia Quartet and the 10^th anniversary of the Romanian Youth Orchestra, the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre builds, through its actions, a modern institution that is capable of guaranteeing the future of Romanian artistic life."

Tour organized by: the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre in the context of the 100^th Anniversary of the Great Union in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute, the 'George Enescu' Philharmonic in Bucharest, the March Music Days International Festival at Ruse and the 'Mihai Eminescu' Romanian Cultural Institute in Chișinău.

With the support of the 'Ștefan Iordache' Centre for Youth and Culture and the District 3 City Hall

Partners: Radio Romania, Lanto Communication, the 'Prietenii Muzicii - Serafim Antropov' Foundation, the Bucharest Mercure City Center

Media partners: Radio Romania Cultural, Radio Romania Music, Q Magazine, România TV, Observator Cultural, Liternet, Mediatrust, Miscareaderezistenta.ro.

For more information on the activities of the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre and the Romanian Youth Orchestra, go to www.tinerimea.ro.

BIOGRAPHIES

The Romanian Youth Orchestra

The Romanian Youth Orchestra was formed in 2008 through the initiative of cellist Marin Cazacu as an artistic and education program supported by the 'Prietenii Muzicii - Serafim Antropov' Foundation and Lanto Communication. Since 2014, it has worked under the auspices of the 'Tinerimea Română' National Centre. The project brings the best young musicians in Romania together for a unique artistic experience that has the purpose of achieving a high level of performance. The Romanian Youth Orchestra is considered to be the best Romanian orchestra of recent years and has made a name for itself internationally as well, as it is held in high regard by European critics as one of the top ensembles of the world.

Ever since the beginning, Cristian Mandeal was the one preoccupied with putting together the ensemble. Under his artistic leadership, the orchestra has become a successful story of the Romanian musical world. Through the ability to transform every concert in a memorable event, he thus gives Romania an international-level orchestra that imposes a standard through excellence.

Currently, the project 'The Romanian Youth Orchestra - spirit of Enescu and tradition of Europe' involves various activities of artistic development. The purpose of the program is to offer the chance for musicians to grow as part of an orchestra, to assimilate a rich repertoire by taking part in master classes and, most importantly, to cultivate the pleasure of playing in an ensemble alongside internationally famous conductors and soloists such as: Cristian Măcelaru, Lawrence Foster, Horia Andreescu, Kristjan Jarvi, Bogdan Băcanu, Sarah Chang, Amanda Forsyth, David Garrett, Stefan Geiger, Andrei Ioniţă, Roman Kim, Elizabeth Leonskaja, Ivan Ludlow, Plamena Mangova, Valentina Naforniţă, Olga Pasichnyk, Wave Quartet, Peter Sadlo, Olga Scheps, Emmanuel Sejourne, Aleksey Semenenko şi Pinchas Zukerman.

The result is a unique orchestra that receives full house standing ovations at the Romanian Athenaeum, at the Radio Hall, at the 'George Enescu' International Festival and on international stages such as l'Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Ravello Festival and the Mahler Festival in Toblach - Italy, the 'March Music Day' Festival in Ruse, the Youth Orchestras Festival in Milan, the Aix en Provence Festival, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic.

As of November 2011, the ensemble is a member of the European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO). As member of this institution, the Romanian Youth Orchestra is an active participant of the EXchange program, meant to assure the best possible circulation of the most valuable young musicians in the programs organized by the European youth orchestras.

Considered an artistic project that has already reached its maturity, the Romanian Youth Orchestra continues its journey through the world of quality music and international acknowledgment, as it is an ensemble educated in a professional spirit in an exceptional artistic environment.

CRISTIAN MANDEAL

In his over 40 years of conducting, Cristian Mandeal has performed both abroad and in Romania.

He studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory for 10 years (1965-1975), with piano as his main instrument, as well as conducting (with Constantin Bugeanu) and composition (Ștefan Niculescu), later improving upon what he studied at Berlin (Herbert von Karajan, 1980) and Munich (Sergiu Celibidache, 1990). He started as an assistant music master at the Romanian Opera House in Bucharest (1974-1977). He then became conductor of the Philharmonics in Târgu Mureș (1977-1980), Cluj (1980-1987) and Bucharest (1987-2009). He was the artistic director of the 'George Enescu' International Competition and Festival, editions 2001 and 2003. As a principal conductor and general manager of the George Enescu Philharmonic (1991-2009), he elevated it to new and extremely high standards, leaving behind him a trade-mark institution for Romania. Abroad, Cristian Mandeal has conducted hundreds of concerts as a guest of dozens of orchestras on 4 continents, 35 countries and 31 capitals. He took part in many prestigious international festivals in the company of some of the most currently reputed soloists. He was the artistic director of the Northern Israelian Orchestra - Haifa (1999 - 2002) and of the National Basque Orchestra - San Sebastian (2001 - 2008), a permanent conductor of the Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano e Trento (2000 - 2003), principal guest conductor of the Manchester Halle Orchestra (2003-2008) - the first person ever to receive this position in the 150 years since the orchestra was founded -, of the Belgrade Philharmonic (the 2006-2007 season) and of the Copenhagen Philharmonic (2006 - present).

A point of great interest Cristian Mandeal's recent activity is the collaboration with the Romanian Youth Orchestra, which he has been cultivating, educating and conducting constantly since 2008.

Plamena Mangova

Admired for her unique art of eliminating any possible tension induced by technical difficulties, pianist Plamena Mangova studied at the Stat Conservatory in Sofia and continued her artistic education with important artists such as Dmitri Bashkirov and Abdel-Rahman El Bacha, receiving very good comments from illustrious stage partners such as Leon Fleisher, Rosalyn Tureck, Krystian Zimerman and Andras Schiff.

Her career has been rewarded with international prizes at important competitions, such as the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Paloma O'Shea, Vittorio Gui or the Juventus Festival.

Plamena Mangova has performed in prestigious chamber music recitals, as well alongside great orchestras, such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, National Orchestra of Belgium, European Union Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, RAI Torino Orchestra, Moscow Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Bulgarian Radio Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic, St Petersburg Orchestra, MDR Orchester Leipzig, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Verbier Festival Orchestra and others. Her performances brought collaborations with important conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Myung-whun Chung, Sir Andrew Davis, Emmanuel Krivine, Walter Weller, Tadaaki Otaka, Jaap van Zweden, Dmitri Jurowski, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Karl Heinz Steffens, Gilbert Varga, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Francois-Xavier Roth and others.

Dan Iulian Druțac

Dan Iulian Druțac was born in Chișinău, the Republic of Moldova, in 1996. His father was a musician, so he encouraged him to become a violinist. His first steps into the musical world were taken at the 'Ciprian Porumbescu' High school, with the help of Professor Iulia Luță, and then Galina Buinovschi.

Shortly after, he started performing concerts in Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Germany and Italy. He has won numerous competitions in Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Armenia and the United Kingdom. In 2013, he won the first edition of the International Musical Competition of the Whitgift School. He received the Grand Prize, which gave him the opportunity to get a scholarship from the Whitgift School, a top school in Great Britain.

In 2013 he studied with David Takeno, one of the best violin professors in the UK. He also studied at the Junior Guildhall at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has performed concerts in Great Britain, Moldova and Romania.

He plays on a 1696 Stradivarius violin.