The 16th edition of the Old Music Festival from Bucharest starts on Tuesday, the 16^th of November and programs 7 concerts in Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj, Köln (Germany), Seville (Spain).

Based on the idea that the strong essences are kept in small bottles, this edition proposes a programme inspired by the two well-known directions of European early music (especially baroque): Italian and French. That is IF / Italy & France. Seven concerts, which will take place in a hybrid format, with both 100% online representatives and two concerts held in physical format.

The festival starts on Tuesday the 16^th of November at 7 p.m. with Fin'amor , a programme of love music of the12th-15th centuries troubadours performed by the ensemble "Cantica & Emilio Villalba":Emilio Villalba, Sara Marina, Ángeles Núñez. The concert will feature little-known instruments from the Middle Ages and Renaissance period.

The programme will continue with: Harpsichord or not II (November 18^th, a journey into the world of harpsichord and voice transcriptions by J. Ph. Rameau), La Folia e la Gioia (November 20^th, a concert built around one of the most famous themes of all time - Folia), Suiter than France (November 21^st, an exquisite repertoire from the "golden age" of French harpsichord music), The meantone (November 23^rd, a concert presentation of the mesotonic tuning system, performed in the Black Church - Brasov, on the historic organ of Rupea).

The last two concerts, Les caractères (November 25^th, a repertoire about the exciting world of "characters" built by the composers of French Baroque music) and Sempre Vivaldi (November 27^th, a gala concert, sparkling like a fireworks display), will be performed with the public present and will take place in the The Royal Living Room (The National Art Museum of Romania).

All the concerts will be streamed online, giving free access to audiences from all over the world.

"We chose this subtitle, IF, also because there were many unknowns when we were drafting the 2021 edition. We are happy that 'if' became 'sure' and that the festival is happening, despite the restrictions. The programme is a plea for "Discover the newness of old music!" - the credo of our festival. It's great to see how the audience is getting bigger and more invested, year after year", said festival director LaurențiuConstantin.

This year's edition is dedicatedto the two well-known directions of European early music (especially baroque): Italian and French.The 7 concerts will feature the names of composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, Antonio Falconieri, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Jean Philippe Rameau, Louis Couperin, LouisMarchand.

"We will then land during the festival in the France of Jean Philippe Rameau, Francois Couperin and Louis Marchand with three programmes of French music. After so many ornaments and cadenzas, each more and more sophisticated, we will delight our ears with the 'strange' sounds of mesotonic tuning and a fascinating historical musical instrument. We will also explore the well-known theme of the Folly and, towards the end, we will reach the "gallery of characters" in 18th century France and then in Antonio Vivaldi's Italy", said harpsichordist RalucaEnea, artistic director of the festival.

Guest artists include: "Cantica & Emilio Villalba" ensemble, "Sempre" early music ensemble, "Fonte di Gioia" ensemble, KetilHaugsand (Germany) - harpsichord solo, Steffen Schlandt (Brasov, Black Church) - mesotonic organ, CsibiDávid - baroque violin, IstvánCsata - viola da gamba, Rafael Butaru (baroque violin), MirceaIonescu (baroque violin), Cristina Vasilache - soprano, RalucaEnea - harpsichord.

"Sixteen years ago, when we started the festival, a lot of people thought that early music meant music of the 70s and 80s. They were confusing it with 'oldies, but goldies'. We are proud to have laid a brick in the creation of a cultured audience in Romania that listens to old music" - declaredRalucaEnea, the festival's artistic director.

The Old Music Festival from Bucharest is the first of its kind in Bucharest and one of the most important events of cultural music in Romania. It is ranked fourth among the "most attended festivals in Bucharest" (according to the Barometers of Cultural Consumption for the last two years conducted by the National Institute for Cultural Research and Training) and fifth in the "Cultural Consumption Study for the Municipality of Bucharest 2015" - a study conducted by INCFC at the initiative of ARCUB, for the elaboration of the Cultural Strategy of Bucharest). The Festival is also considered the most important early music event in South-East Europe and in 2015 it became a member (at that time the only one in Eastern Europe) of the prestigious Early European Music Network (EEMN).

The festival programme can be seen here: https://earlymusic.ro/program-festival/

The concerts can be watched online here:

https://www.facebook.com/Festivalul.de.Muzica.Veche.Bucuresti/events

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6GoBMcXRrMc8BH5GjB6cig