"Crăciunul Florilor" (The Christmas of Flowers) is the title of the four special concerts that will be held by The National Chamber Choir "Madrigal - Marin Constantin" from December 11th to December 14th, 2024 at the Palatul Patriarhiei (Patriarchate Palace) in Bucharest. With more details: Anna Ungureanu, conductor of the famous ensemble, in an interview with our colleague Ioana Țintea.

Anna Ungureanu, this year, The National Chamber Choir "Madrigal - Marin Constantin" offers its audience in Bucharesttwo novel concepts as part of itsspecial series of Christmas concerts. The first of these, entitled "Crăciunul Florilor" (The Christmas of Flowers) has garnered great interest, the tickets having already sold out. How do you feel about this response from music lovers?

As always, we're incredibly thrilled to witness the joy of those that wish to join us in these festive times and we are particularly honored that the public is eager to listen to Romanian music and Romanian carols, and to feel a little bit of the Christmas spirit through music with us.

How did you come up with the idea of associating flowers with the celebration of the birth of Christ?

It's a concert that clearly incorporates plants and flowers, which will be visually present in the concert hall at the Patriarchate Palace.It's an idea that we came up withas we kept rehearsing "Florile dalbe" (White flowers) for example, or "Floricica" (Little flower) by Francisc Hubic... just to name a few titles... or snippets from the choruses of Romanian carols. And then we figured that this title honors the complete program of Romanian carols very nicely. So, we were very pleased to give our concerts this title. There are four of them in total and, indeed, as I said, it is brilliant news for us; we are honored that all of them have sold out well in advance.

How will you beportraying Christmas musically? Whichworks will be performed?

Well-established and well-known works will be performed as well as other works that are less known. I am talking about folk, religious, modern and folk-modern musical styles. So, alongside "O, ce veste minunată!" (O what wonderful news!) and a few pages from Paul Constantinescu's Christmas Oratorio, we will also have "Trei Crai de la Răsărit"(The Three Magi from the East) but also "Florile dalbe" (White flowers) with "Bună dimineața la Moș Ajun" (Good morning for it's Christmas Eve) and two Romanian carols by Marius Hristescu along with some other pages by Pașcanu, which have, by now, become integral to our Christmas carol concerts.

Your collaboration with the children of the Cantus Mundi choirs has become a tradition. What kind of impact does this intergenerational artistic union have upon the audience, but more importantly, upon the young members of the choir?

We have already had our first rehearsal with some of them and I must say we are honored - and I am aware I am repeating myself. But the fact that they come with their parents after school and are rejuvenated and, with the Madrigal taking up the entire hall, we're all there, I mean hundreds of kids... and they are proud of being part of this project. They come and they hug us and thank us for the time spent singing together. At this point, I need to mention that a little girl came up to me to congratulate me and tell me that she liked my gestures, and she told me that she thought that what I was doing was really great. We have all kinds of conversations... what some of us have in our hair, how some of us are dressed, they see us as some type of role models, and we enjoy their freshness, their spirituality, their energy and the joy that they bring. This work takes up extra time in their daily schedules, but it'svery important work. It brings us immense joy and meeting them gives us great pleasure each time. And the upcoming rehearsals will bring in hundreds of other children, not only from Bucharest, but from all over the country. I cannot wait to meet all those who will be able to come to Bucharest with us for this concert, but also for the other type of concert that we will certainly discuss in what follows.

I imagine that the atmosphere would be quite festive in the Madrigal House during this time.

If you stop byour building on Dealul Mitropoliei (Metropolitanate Hill), you'll see the house lit up from the outside, with stars everywhere; it was lit in the colors of the Romanian flag on December 1^st as well. We're really proud that we're able to provide this small bit of visual joy for those that visit us or Patriarchate Hill. And we're certain that with each flower, with each little light or ornament that we provide, we add something to this joy that surrounds the winter holidays.

I would like to turn our attention to the second series of concerts, entitled "Madrigal Christmas Mood", which will be held at Aula Magna Hallof thePolitehnica University of Bucharest on December 17th and 18th. What can the audience expect?

First of all, a new hall that our public isn't familiar with. And we arevery proud to be able to launch this new concept of concertsat Politehnica's Aula Magna Hallon this occasion. Seating-wise,it'sa very generous hall; it's a new space and in terms of acoustics, it isvery nice. So, I cannot wait for the audience to experience the new sound with us.

It is a new program, at least half of it, because this concert will be held in two parts. In the first part, only the Madrigal will be singing, and in the second part, a few instrumentalists will be joining us to emphasize the slightly jazzy, American sound of the songs we'll be singing.

We are talking about very famous songs that will be interpreted in a completely new way for the Madrigal and for its listeners from a stylistic point of view, but that will also impart the same Christmas joy and energy in terms of the spiritual and soulful communion that we are able toenjoy with ease especially around Christmas. They are established titles, I don't want to tell you too much because theyare, indeed, a great surprise, an absolute novelty in Madrigal's repertoire, and we hope that they are here to stay, and that the audience will enjoy them with all their hearts.

What is the message that The National Chamber Choir "Madrigal - Marin Constantin" wishes to convey to its audience this festive season?

Obviously, we proceed with our belief in unification, peace, acceptance, love, teamwork. These are words that can be found in the lyrics to most of our songs. Our love for nature and for our fellow human beings, our belief in supporting others, in always striving to find light and joy in your heart, in devoting yourself completely to the other... these are messages that we've been continuously promoting for the past few years and we believe in them because this is what music actually does - through sound, but also through its lyrics; it brings this joy, this unity that our heart immediately understands and that makes us act accordingly.