Reaching its 57^th edition, The International Cluj Musical Autumn Festival started last Friday with a concert held by Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra, that was conducted by Cristian Mandeal, having the violinist Liviu Prunaru as soloist. Until October 24^th, Cluj holds a series of various musical events that bring into focus well-known artists and musical ensembles. Silvia Sbârciu, manager of Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca:

What's new about the 57^th edition of the festival?

The 57^th edition is, in fact, a very rich edition in terms of events, with daily or even twice a day concerts, so it is much denser than the last editions we had, it brings great soloists and conductors, but also unconventional spaces which haven't been included in the concert circuit until now, such as the MushuROI space. It is an industrial area that has been converted into a space dedicated to different kinds of concerts and cultural events, including vernissages and other similar events, so we have managed to include it in The Cluj Musical Autumn. The festival had its debut with the concert conducted by Cristian Mandeal, the permanent conductor of the Transylvania State Philharmonic and the violinist Liviu Prunaru. Then there was the panoramic concert of contemporary composition at MushuROI, we had a unique event on Sunday, an accordion concert in which perhaps the most difficult piano parts transcribed for accordion were played, and tonight we'll have Liviu Prunaru again, together with Ineke Hellingman, a recital, having a Schumann Brahms and Cesar Franck program, the two quartets, of course, the Arcadia Quartet on Tuesday and The Transylvanian Quartet on Thursday, October 17^th, Lieder recitals, such as Midnight by Hannah Elisabeth Meyer and Suryeon Noh on October 16^th, then symphonic concerts, a Puccini Gala conducted by Vlad Iftinica and accompanied by the well-known Romanian soprano Anita Hartig. A Lieder recital once again, but this time at MushuROI, which is entitled Night Spot, proposing pieces by Schönberg, Kurt Weill, Satie, Bolcom and Amy Beach. So this is another type of repertory, one in the cabaret direction, but reinterpreted and conceptualized, and then, of course, the closing concert, this time having Leo Hussain as conductor, and Andrei Gologan is the pianist for the Scriabin concerto. Andrei Gologan will also play a solo recital made of Scriabin, Enescu, Beethoven and Brahms pieces. Broadly speaking, rushing through the festival program, this is the time and space layout of this year's events. This is the 57^th edition so far, and this is the longest-lasting festival that hasn't been interrupted. We hope we can hold it to the same standards from now on. There are many contemporary music recitals, but there are also repertories that switch from baroque to contemporary, such as the one on Sunday, October 13^th, which was played by the Couleurs ensemble, but also the one played by the AdHoc Ensemble, for example from contemporary to classical, here is a reverse. The Musical Autumn falls under the same dome of the well-known classic, which means that we're falling in love with classical music, we dive into classical music and, usually, during fall, we started this project two years ago, all events fall under this dome, meaning we're trying to keep a guideline of the whole autumn until the end of November.

As you have mentioned, well-known artists and ensembles are playing at the Cluj Musical Autumn Festival. How's this year's edition relating to the young generation of artists?

Because a lot of the soloists are very young, the philharmonic started a program called Juvenorum, which proposes artists that are now winning important international awards and are already anchored in the international classical music market, even if their career has just begun. There are not a few insertions of this kind, because we have already become partners with many international contests, of course, there was the George Enescu Competition, the Jascha Heifetz Competition, the Scriabin Competition, the Athens Competition and the New Hope one, which offers a concert in the philharmonic as a prize, meaning that the young generation is quite privileged in Cluj. We have also formed a youth orchestra in order to insert them as well as possible in the labour market and to offer them some sort of a masterclass with well-known conductors under the mentorship of maestro Mandeal, but also in the Cluj Musical Autumn, Radu Rățoi, the accordion player we had is a young man of a great perspective, and Andrei Gologan as well - he is also making a great name for himself, a young pianist whose career has just begun. This is some kind of a new wave in terms of assembling the artistic programs of the season.