Pianist Ștefan Doniga is one of the most creative and active musicians of Romania's classical music scene. He consistently carries out his work with enthusiasm and cultural breadth qualities that he also brings to the thematic projects he regularly initiates. The most recent of these is titled Eneschool, a program involving meetings between violinist Diana Jipa and pianist Ștefan Doniga with students and teachers. The project combines lively, personal presentations with the music of George Enescu or works inspired by his artistic legacy. Ștefan Doniga is a passionate advocate for modern and contemporary Romanian music, including Enescu's works. What few people know is that his grandfather, Mircea Doucet, was among those who knew George Enescu personally.

We mark the 70^th anniversary of George Enescu passing into eternity and once again, our thoughts return to the one considered the most representative Romanian musician. We seek to recover precious memorieswhether direct or indirectfrom those who knew him. Among them, your grandfather.I'm very curious, and I believe our listeners are as well: under what circumstances did they meet, and how close was your grandfather to Enescu? What did he used to tell you about him?

I'm glad we have the chance to talk about George Enescu because there's a certain warmth, a beautiful feeling that comes with speaking about him. Just imagine what it must have meant to be in the presence of such a person, when even now, seven decades after his passing into the great eternity alongside Bach, simply talking about him gives you a lovely feeling, a sense of peace, of goodness.

Indeed, it is a warmth, as you said.

And some of us, as it happens, have had the beautiful privilege of a direct connection with people who knew him. My grandfather was, I believe, around 31 or 32 at the time, and he came to know Enescu through the lens of certain historical shifts that, in the long run, did not prove very beneficial for Romania's development. In 1947-1948, during that great upheaval of Romanian society, certain doors opened doors that allowed access to great cultural figures for people who, under normal circumstances, might never have had such opportunities. There were delegations organized to meet these towering personalities. Now, the people in those delegations were not always equipped to truly engage with such figures given the ideological orientation of the time but my grandfather stood apart. He was a man of exceptional intellectual formation. The fact that he had, at one point, certain political sympathies, sympathies he later renounced, and rightly so brought him into the circle of those selected to speak with, engage with, and help coordinate various efforts involving prominent figures of the time, especially those who had managed to navigate the major political shift of 1946, 1947.

In what way, precisely, to coordinate? What were they trying to do?

I never really found out from him whether there was a clear purpose to those meetings, but I do remember this term he used "delegations". There were delegations assigned to meet and talk with certain prominent figures. Some of them even embraced those ideals. I remember him telling me that he had met MihailSadoveanu. He mentioned that encounter, Sadoveanu was one of those influential figures shaping the cultural life of the time. But thanks to these "openings", as he called them, he also had the chance to meet George Enescu.

Enescu grew fond of him precisely because he was someone he could truly talk to, within those groups he somewhat agreed to meet him. From what my grandfather told me, those meetings took place in Sinaia, at Cumpătu. There are several memories, several images that I inherited from him. Now, I wasn't that young when he shared them with me, I was in my twenties, I believe, so I think I absorbed those memories quite accurately; they're not distorted by the haze of long-past recollections. What he conveyed, above all, was the immerse respect he had for George Enescu, a respect that Enescu inspired without ever trying to. One of the qualities of truly great people is that they don't make you feel small in their presence, and Enescu had that in abundance.

My grandfather used to tell me that whenever Enescu entered a room, it would light up, filled with a certain warmth, a certain generosity that wasn't forced or intentional. This quality has become legendary when speaking of Enescu, something we all acknowledge. But to receive that impression firsthand, from someone who actually lived it and felt it, that makes it all the more authentic. It's like a beautiful confirmation we all long for. There was this sense that he lifted you up to his level, that he drew you toward him. There are interactions with great personalities that can be overwhelming, the kind that make you realize how far you are from the towering peak they represent. But Enescu wasn't like that. He shared all his greatness, his immerse presence, with others. And what a beautiful thing it must have been to experience that.

Another beautiful memory was whenmy grandfather told me he had gone out for a walk in the garden of the villa, and at one point, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.He turned aroundand it was Enescu's enormous left hand. That's how he used to put it:"That enormous left hand of Enescu." There's a legend which he confirmed that Enescu's left hand was actually larger than his right. It was a physical asymmetry that probably became more pronounced over time due to playing the violin just like with Lipatti, who had those "beautiful spider-like hands," as they used to say. It's as if these people were made for the instruments they ennobled. And that time, it was just the two of them, having a conversation. He told me Enescu asked, "What are you doing here, young man? What brings you here?"somewhat surprised to see him among those groups, as Imentioned before, where he rather stood out.And he replied, "I was waiting for you, Maestro!" He had likely hoped for the chance to meet him, to share a quiet moment. They exchanged a few words. It wasn't a close friendship I wouldn't go as far as to say they had a personal relationship but still, even a meeting or two like that gives us the kind of confirmation we long for about such personalities.

I don't think they ever got to talk in depth, or to truly fulfill that joy of connecting with someone of Enescu's stature, perhaps because the context didn't allow for it. But I've had the privilege of knowing other people who met Enescu like another towering Romanian artist, Maestro Valentin Gheorghiu. I had the chance to speak with him a few times.

And what did Valentin Gheorghiu tell you?

I asked him, "What was Enescu like?" And he told me, "Oh, he was extraordinary! He was always doing something." That's exactly how he said it:"He was amazing always involved in something."Even though Maestro Gheorghiu was still a teenager at the time, he caught a glimpse of that period when Enescu constantly gave of himselfhis energy, his personality, his talent.It was as if, along with the gift of his talent, he had also received a responsibilitya joyful oneto carry the music of an entire people, and to give it back, to share it with others, especially the young.He told me Enescu supportedyoung artists greatly.And we know that this generosity extended to Maestro Gheorghiu himself.

I also met another person who had interacted with George Enescu Professor Neagu Djuvara. I had the joy of being quite close to him in the last years of his life.At one point, I invited him to speak during a presentation at the Enescu Festival, I believe in 2007.We were presenting the festival at the Athenaeum, and during the intermissions,we filled the time with interviews.I invited Professor Djuvara and asked him, "What memories do you have of George Enescu?"And he said: "My dear, do you see that seatover there? That's where I sat in 1943. I had just returned from the front, wounded, and came here for a concert. And suddenly, three meters in front of me, there he was Maestro George Enescu, conducting a charity concert for war widows. "So, once again confirmation. That Enescu was always giving. That his generosity went beyond musicit reached across society.

Yes, somehow all three people we've mentioned share this common groundthey spoke about Enescu's generosity.

Yes, and they're not the only ones. If I think about it, I myself have known George Enescuand I still know George Enescubecause I have his scores in front of me, and I've spent countless hours studying them. The study of music is the most intimate way to know a creator. When you stand before a painting, you're in the space the artist once inhabited. Literature, too, allows you to step into someone's mind. But studying a score gives you an extraordinarily intimate understandingand even more so with George Enescu, where there is that overwhelming, exceptional abundance of markings. You find those same qualities in the music itself. There isn't that split, which you often see with many great figures, between the artist and the personwhere the work is genius, but the human being, let's say, lives by other coordinates. With Enescu, that divide doesn't exist. And you know Enescu tooand so does everyone listening to usbecause they've heard his music at least once and fallen in love with it. And I think that's the most beautiful way to know George Enescu.

Yes, we have the privilege of still holding on to firsthand stories from people who were close to himbut the music will always remain. And given the kind of man he was and what he had to offer the world, I believe we should try to get to know him a little more, almost every day.

In fact, you promote Romanian music, including that of George Enescu. Among your recent projects is "Eneschool". How is our great musician perceived by today's youth? How do you think they see him?

They see him when they have the chance to be presented with him when he is brought before them because if you don't have him in your line of sight, you can't see him. It's like that military term: "if he's not in your sights," he's invisible. I've discovered that quite a few young people don't know about George Enescu. And if they do, it's only as a bare historical fact, not even biographical. But through those who want to speak to them through us, myself and my colleague Diana Jipa, with whom I carry out these projects they discover an extraordinary personality who can influence them, who can become a role model. Those who are aware of George Enescu treat him with the same respect they show to other cultural figures who've reached them Eminescu, Ion Creangă, Nicolae Grigorescu. But when you begin to talk to them about these remarkable qualities, about what these personalities gave back to society, they begin to see things differently. And I believe that's what matters!