Soprano Aida Pascu - awarded "Young Performer of the Year 2024" at the International Classical Music Awards, ICMA - will perform an extraordinary recital on Thursday 18 April 2024 with pianist Gabriel Gîțan. The programme is built around the theme "Dream of Love" and includes lieder from Romanian and universal literature. The two spoke in the "Guest of the Week" section of Perpetuum mobile on Monday, April 15th, about the event that will take place in the Cerchez Hall of the Cotroceni National Museum and which is part of the series "Heirs of Musical Romania" organized by Radio România Muzical, in collaboration with Artexim and the Cotroceni National Museum, with the support of the Rotary Club Pipera.

Two guests in the Radio România Muzical studio at Perpetuum mobile - soprano Aida Pascu and pianist Gabriel Gîțan.Welcome! Glad to have you with us!

Aida Pascu: Good evening! We're happy too.

Gabriel Gîțan: Thank you for the invitation.

In the next few minutes we will talk about the recital you will give on Thursday, April 18th, as part of the project "Heirs of Musical Romania".Two young musicians, then.So how do you see this project through your eyes?

Aida Pascu: From my point of view, it is the project that encourages a lot of young musicians in the country and, at least for me, it was probably the most important project I took part in and that brought me the most benefits along the way.

Gabriel, you were one of the guests of another young musician for his project "Heirs of Musical Romania". How did you see this experience?

Gabriel Gîțan: I think it's a very good idea because, in addition to the prize money, the candidates receive recitals, concerts, the opportunity to play on important stages or to make recordings. And that's what I think is very important when you're a young musician, the opportunities.

Aida, one such opportunity materialised on Friday April 12th at the International Classical Music Awards. You performed on stage there.What was it like on stage? We've heard some reactions to Perpetuum mobile at the beginning, it's a piece we've already posted on our website, but how was it on stage? What was it like for you?

Aida Pascu: The hall is amazing! I don't know if I've ever played in a hall with such impressive acoustics at 1800 seats, if I remember correctly. People were very welcoming. The orchestra... extraordinary quality! The conductor was there for me, supportive and the audience was very, very warm and responsive.

We come to "Dream of Love", as you titled Thursday's recital.What will you play in the Cerchez Hall of the Cotroceni National Museum?A few titles?

Aida Pascu: We start with a vocal etude by Ravel, because I thought it was a very beautiful Marial. I thought that in this repertoire we should also have some cyclicity. So, although Ravel is obviously a French composer, we still have the conclusion with the Obradors - the seven traditional Spanish songs, and so the Spanish character of this vocalisation is a perfect beginning that links to this beautiful ending. And, in between, we go through several types of lieder literature.

Gabriel Gîțan: ... including three songs by Enescu.

Aida Pascu: Yes, we have a lied that I like very much, by Schubert. I've always wanted to sing it, but never had the chance. A lied in Czech, by Dvorak; I'm going to sing it in Czech. We've got Haydn, to go through the English Lieder a bit...

Your collaboration started, if I remember correctly, last summer, during some recordings made here at the Radio Hall. What has changed since then? How has this musical dialogue evolved?

Aida Pascu: Ever since we met and had the opportunity to work together, at least from my point of view there has always been communication and understanding. We didn't have to make very big compromises neither I nor Gabriel I think when we collaborated and we had quite similar opinions in terms of the interpretation of the music we make together. And I think this is very important.

Gabriel Gîțan: It's a pleasure to work and share the stage with Aida, who is an extraordinary soprano and already very experienced. At only 24 years old, she has debuted in several roles on important stages, including the National Opera in Bucharest and... I can't wait to sing together again.

Aida, you mentioned a very important word, compromise.Șitu, Gabriel, you spoke in one of the interviews you gave before this recital about young musicians who should be involved as much as possible in chamber music, in as many projects as possible.Correlating those two things, how far should that kind of compromise go in your opinion?

Gabriel Gîțan: I think as far as you are comfortable with the vision that results from this compromise.

Let's talk about the repertoire at the moment, related to this compromise.For example, if you were to be proposed a chamber music project with a repertoire that you may not want to tackle - I have met such artists who have told me at one point that they don't go beyond Mozart's music.Would you agree to take such a step, say?

Gabriel Gîțan: In general, I think it's good to step out of your comfort zone, because you can be prejudiced, you can be afraid of new styles, different from what you've been working on before and... I don't think it hurts to accept any musical challenge.

Thursday night's recital at the Cotroceni National Museum will be streamed live, and the recording will also be posted on our website, on our youtube account. In the meantime, for those who didn't get a ticket at the Cotroceni National Museum, do you have an invitation for them to listen to the recital on Radio România Muzical?

Aida Pascu: I would like to tell everyone that it will be a recital that we both put a lot of heart into. For me, it's a very beautiful repertoire and I made sure that there are also pieces that are less sung in Romania, such as the cycle of lieder by Obradors in Spanish. So, if you are curious to listen to pieces you may not have heard, this is a good time.

Gabriel Gîțan: I'd love you to join us. We're going to make music for pleasure and hopefully enjoy.

Thank you for coming to Perpetuum mobile, good luck on Thursday and good luck after this recital!