On Monday, the 28th of November, during a press conference at the Romanian Athenaeum, the programme of the 2023 edition of the George Enescu International Festival was announced.The Institution's Official Hall was too small for everyone taking part.

Cristian Măcelaru, the conductor and artistic director of the George Enescu International Festival, told us about the highlights of the programme and the slogan of the newest edition:

"The story of theslogan for the 2023 edition begins with one of the fundamental values that the great composer George Enescu believed in - generosity. Generosity through music, it's this moment in time that we, the organizers, but also we, the artists, give to a society eager for culture and hungry for music. The existence of the George Enescu International Festival is justified by a country that gave the world a Brâncuși and anEnescu. During the 2023 festival, we will continue the many initiatives that have been in place so far. I am first of all referring to the great orchestras of the world and the great artists who will be invited, new artists who will attend the festival. I'll only tell you a few important names: Aida Garifullina, Igor Levit, Augustin Hadelich, Klaus Makela, Kent Nagano, HannuLintu. There will also be new orchestras attending the festival for the first time - The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Gotebog Symphony, Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Academy of American Music, Manchester Camerata, Collegium Vocale Gent. Some pieces that will be presented in the concert: Verdi -Otello, Britten - Billy Budd, Purcell - The Fairy Queen, Messiaen - St Francis of Assisi, Ligeti - Le grand macabre, Debussy -Pelleas et Melisande and, last but not least, Enescu-Oedip.

We will hold around 90 to 100 concerts in Bucharest, and then some more in other cities around the country.

Some great orchestras that will come, and that have attended the festival before, are Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony, Concertgebow Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Israel Philharmonic.

29 concerts in Sala Mare of the Palace Hall, 27 concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum, 13 Concerts at Midnight - a series of concerts that was very well received, 8 concerts from the Enescu and contemporaries concert series, 10 concertsfrom the Romanian orchestras series. Actually, 11 Romanian orchestras will be presented at the festival, including the opera. And 4 other special concerts that they always attend. As a father, I feel responsible for this… 4 new concerts that focus on facilitating access to concerts for a very young generation.

In total, over 40 orchestras from 16 countries, over 40 conductors. Out of the conductors that will come, you'll recognize many names that have been mentioned before, but I'll say Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Simon Rattle, TuganSokhiev, LahavShani, Klaus Makela, Daniele Gatti, PaavoJarvi, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Manfred Honeck, Cristian Mandeal, Christian Badea, and, finally, I will also conduct."

You just heard Cristian Măcelaru, director of the George Enescu International Festival.

Cristina Uruc, the interim manager of ARTEXIM, the organizer of the George Enescu International Festival, spoke about the purchase of tickets, but also about a new initiative dedicated to people with special needs:

"We wish to get involved and take part in the community and social life. We're looking forward to partnerships with associations and foundations to stimulate access to culture for children, young people, adults with disabilities and special needs.

Regarding the sale of tickets for the 26^th edition of the festival, individual tickets will go on sale starting with the 1^st of February, 2023 at 12 o'clock. But, until then, in order to allow the public as much access as possible to the possibility of purchasing a subscription to the festival, on November 30^th the subscription purchase campaign will begin.It will be held in the form of a lottery, like last year, with a few changes. This time, people who will register between the 30^th of November and the 9^th of December, will receive an identification code that they will be able to track online during the draw.When they are drawn, they will receive another code with which they can purchase up to 4 subscriptions. The draw will take place at the Romanian Athenaeum, on the 12^th of December, at 12 o'clock, in front of a committee made up of 3 people - n Artexim representative, an Eventim representative and a notary public.This lottery will be broadcast online. If there will be subscriptions left, because we thought of this maximum number of 4 that a beneficiary can purchase, if there are still subscriptions left, we'll pass on to the waiting list."

"Generosity through music" is, therefore, the slogan of the 2023 edition of the George Enescu International Festival. From Lucian Romașcanu, the Minister of Culture, we found out that the institution he represents has allocated the largest budget dedicated to the festival up until now. RăzvanDincă, President General Director of the Romanian Broadcasting Society - traditional co-producer ofthe George Enescu International Festival - spoke about the importance of promoting culture through journalism. The events of the "George Enescu" International Festival will take place between the 27^th of August and the 24^th of August, 2023, the programme can found online. Radio RomâniaMuzical will, as always, broadcast the events of the festival live.