The Cluj Chamber Music Festival is taking place from 8^th to 13^th of April - an event that is now in its second year. Andrada Crișan, artistic secretary of the Romanian National Opera Cluj-Napoca, talks to Ioana Țintea about the series of events.

Mrs. Andrada Crișan, the Cluj Chamber Music Festival has reached its second edition. Looking back, how did the idea for the project come about and how has it evolved since the previous edition?

Last year was the first edition of the Cluj Chamber Music Festival and it took place from 20-23 February and lasted only four days. We tried as much as possible to bring a new chamber music festival to the public in Cluj, as these events are not so frequent, and to offer the public a more intimate cultural setting. This year, we've made the festival a bit bigger. The second edition is taking place from 8^th to 13^th of April. From four days we have grown to six days and we continue to enjoy the support of the Romanian National Bank. That's where we held our concerts last year, on all four days, and this year five of the recitals will be held at the headquarters of the Romanian National Bank. The last one will take place at the Pietati Evangelical Church.

The repertoire spectrum is very broad and diverse when it comes to chamber music.What will the public listen to during this festival, until April 13^th?

We have six recitals. We had a quintet by Antonin Dvorak. Then we had a contemporary trio suite by a young composer from the Cluj Conservatory and we finished with some arrangements for the brass quintet of the National Opera. There will be a recital of lieder from the work of composer Johannes Brahms. We will have Sergei Rahmaninov, also a lieder recital. On Thursday, there will be the students of the Academy of Music with a diverse program; they will only be in instrumental chamber ensembles present. On Friday we will also have a lieder recital; tenor Marius Vlad Budoiu will perform. And on Saturday we will have Lieder. Each event has somehow its own theme. We had "Les couleurs de la musique" - that was the title. The ensemble was the Couleurs quintet. And we thought for each evening we would have a separate theme depending on the repertoire.

Who are the artists who will perform in Cluj Chamber Music Festival?

There will be baritone Florin Estefan, accompanied by pianists Csiky Boldizsar and Oana Csiky. On Thursday, we will have students from the National Academy of Music, several bands from there. On Friday, it will be tenor Marius Vlad Budoiu accompanied by pianist Larisa Pentea. And on Saturday, it will be two members of our studio "Lya Hubic" accompanied by Lelia Serafinceanu on piano.

What is the impact for the Romanian National Opera in Cluj-Napoca of organising such an event that goes beyond the borders of the opera scene?

It is a bit demanding because, at the National Bank of Romania, all our guests, the audience, have to be accredited, so access is somewhat limited, but we are glad to have the support of the public. We have received many requests, we have had many people on the waiting list for events. It's a bit of a challenge, but we're glad to see people interested enough to take part in this event.

In the long term, what is your vision for this festival to become an established part of cultural life in Cluj-Napoca?

We would like to hold the festival every year, and of course we would like to have established bands. We are happy to see more and more involvement from the people of Cluj, especially from the cultural institutions that support us, and I would like to evolve in future editions and try to find more collaborations.