Reaching for the Moonis the name of the upcoming concert of the Radio Big Band, conducted by Simona Strungaru, which takes place on Thursday, October 31^st, at 19:00. The event, whose special guests are the members of the New Vegas vocal duo, Petru Călinescu and Maximilian Muntean, is going to be broadcast live by Radio România Muzical. They gave us more details about their forthcoming performance at the Reaching for the Moon concert, in an interview with our colleague Viorel Grecu.

New Vegas returns to Sala Radio. The first concert was a success, so here you are, performing for a second time;in fact, from what you have told me, there have been several other collaborations with the Radio Big Band in the meantime.

Petru Călinescu: Yes, there have been many more collaborations- all of which successful- and we always accept whole heartedly every single invitation. It is a great honour. We are glad to be here.

How did you feel at your first concert, which took place a year and a half ago?

Maximilian Muntean: We felt as if that very day had been our birthday, and not just a regular one, but one where you felt like you were celebrating 100 years of sheer joy. It was absolutely awesome, the public was delightful, and the idea of singing accompanied by the whole Big Band is simply fabulous, we truly can't wait to do that again!

Reaching for the Moon is the title of the new performance. What can you tell us about the repertoire? The title is definitely telling.

Petru Călinescu: The repertoire is as lunatic as it could be. We are going to be on cloud nine, as the saying goes. A lot of songs from the Great American Songbook have the word moon in the title, because, well, all the great poets and philosophers dreamed of the moon when they thought of love, and we are no exception either. We are looking forward to it!

So that will include Blue Moon, Fly Me to the Moon...

Maximilian Muntean:Yes. The complete lunar experience.

Petru Călinescu:Come Fly with Me... and what is not about the moon, is about flying… I couldn't come up with an explanation for the coincidence, it just happened. Fly Me to the Moon, Come Fly with Me, Moondance... a real fly-to-the-moon handbook.

The whole recital deals with the sky.

Petru Călinescu: Indeed, which is as timely as possible, one can say. As far as I have heard, we will land on the moon again, in a year or two. The Artemis missions are in preparation at NASA. And… this is how we make our little contribution to getting there.

So you are anticipating the moon landing! There have been countless duos along the years, but such a lasting duo is pretty rare. What is your life like - both artistically and on a personal level - as a duo with so many years behind? Because you have been working in this formula for quite some time.

Maximilian Muntean: What brings us together is our outstanding musical chemistry and real friendship, so every timewe sing together brings us joy. But it is also true that our relationship developed in time. As you said, there have been many duos along the years - Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga and many more - but ours has stood the test of time because we feel so good in each other's company that we cannot conceive it otherwise. Of course, we have, each, our own solo pieces, but the duets have this amazing chemistry.

What is the public regularly attending your concerts like? Who comes to listen to standards or songs from the American Songbook in 2024, or, say, in the 2020s?

Petru Călinescu: We have noticed, especially after the pandemic, that people started to long for culture, everything that vintage means has become of interest again. And we have gladly noticed that this also applies to the younger generations. We have our loyal audience made up of members over a certain age, but there are other generations willing to discover this kind of music coming from behind.

Maximilian Muntean: And we are talking about an educated public, thirsty for culture and knowledge, just as Petru said, and its presence honours us and fills us with all the energy that we need in order to give our best.