The "A Weekend in the East" festival takes place in Paris from November 18th to December 1st, and this year's edition celebrates the city of Bucharest and Romanian culture. The opening concert brings pianist Axia Marinescu to the stage on Wednesday, November 19th, at the Théâtre de l'Alliance Française. The artist spoke about this event and her recent work in an interview with Cristina Cîrjan.

The concert on Wednesday, November 19th, opens the "A Weekend in the East" festival in Paris. What does it mean for you to perform at the opening of such a major event dedicated to Romanian culture?

It is a great joy, because this festival is now in its ninth edition. Each edition is dedicated to a country in Central and Eastern Europe. It started with Poland in the first year, and over time other countries have been featured, and this year it is Romania's turn. I have attended various events within this festival in the past. Of course, now I am very happy to open this whole series of events that will span several weeks. I am also very happy to be in the company of actress Annie Dutoit-Argerich and director Cristian Mungiu, who are patronizing this year's festival. The opening will be a very original event.

You will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Claude Debussy. How did you choose this program, and how do you think it fits into the context of the festival, as a musical preface?

As I was saying, this opening is designed in a very original way. The organizers wanted to imagine a concert-show. That is why Annie Dutoit-Argerich will also be present, reciting several excerpts from Eugen Ionescu's play "The King Dies." In fact, I believe that Eugen Ionescu's daughter, Marie, will also say a few words at the opening. We chose this program precisely to resonate with the ethos of this play, "The King Dies," which is one of the most profound plays written by Eugen Ionescu and, at the same time, has a very detailed symbolism, and Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, and Bach are composers who converge on this common thread of symbolism.

You began playing the piano at the age of five in Bucharest and continued your studies at the Lausanne Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. You also obtained a degree in philosophy from the University of Paris. How does this passion for philosophy fit in with your work as a pianist?

I would say that they not only blend together, but also condition each other, because philosophy, after all, is an aesthetic act, it is the beauty of thought, and beauty, of course, is also reflected in music. Both converge in this dimension of aesthetics, and I believe that an artist cannot be complete unless they relate to the world around them from other perspectives, not just the musical one. Philosophy is perhaps the most complete facet of the universe we live in, and through philosophy we come to know it much better.

You organize conferences and masterclasses in Europe and Asia, sharing your musical knowledge with young people from all over the world. How do you perceive the role of these meetings between children and renowned artists in training new generations of musicians?

It is essential. I believe I was fortunate, privileged, as a student, to have contact with certain personalities-not necessarily direct contact, but access to what they wrote and what they said. This contact is defining because, in addition to opening new horizons, it also offers clear directions on the path you want to take. We all know that children are receptive to information and culture. I believe that this is the right age for certain ways of thinking and perceiving to form quickly and very deeply. So, of course, for me it is a profession "of faith," if I may call it that. I want to convey as much as I can to children and older music lovers.

This year you have given numerous concerts and recitals around the world, particularly in Paris and Bucharest. Among these, were there any recent moments that impressed you or brought you particular satisfaction?

Yes, just a month ago. It's a project I've been working on for some time and which has finally come to fruition. It's a concert-show dedicated to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who is, of course, well known as a philosopher, but perhaps few of us know that he was also a great musician. He invented a completely new system of musical notation for his time, wrote operas and a great deal of musical literature. It's an idea I've wanted to develop since I was a philosophy student. I've now succeeded, working with an actor from the Comédie-Française and a director, also from the Comédie-Française. We imagined a script based on Rousseau's texts, which we combined with music, and the result was a concert-show. This project is very dear to me and was completed last month. We had the pilot show. Now we are going to start a tour throughout France and several events are planned in other countries as well. I hope we can sing and perform it for as long as possible.

You have performed on prestigious stages from an early age. At just 11 years old, you made your debut at the Radio Hall, alongside the National Radio Orchestra. How do you remember this experience and what impact did it have on your career?

That experience was fundamental for me at the time-my first concert with an orchestra. I played a concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Concerto No. 23 in A major. That event opened me up to contact with the public. I had had this contact before, but the opportunity to play with an orchestra on a big stage gave me a completely different view of the pianist and his role, in dialogue not only with the audience, but also with the other musicians. It is an image that I still cherish today, very dear to my heart.

In addition to your concert activities, you have also released albums in the past, such as "Introspections" in 2018 and "Les femmes dansent" in 2021. Do you have any other recording projects in the pipeline?

Sure, right now I'm working on a new CD, which has a different theme from my other releases-much more diverse and original. We have to release it in 2026. We're working hard on this project right now. This album is being produced by a French record label, where I also recorded my last CD.