The National Tour "Vibrations" featuring violinist Valentin Șerban and pianist Mihai Diaconescu, arrives tomorrow, May 22nd, at 7:00 PM, at the Romanian Athenaeum. The program includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Josef Suk, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, and Darius Milhaud. Valentin Șerban talked about what unique elements this series of chamber concerts offers.

Where did the idea for the "Vibrations" Tour, now in its second edition, come from?

Our whole idea is to bring the public closer to chamber music. This genre is far too little promoted in Romania, and there is not enough emphasis on it. With this year's tour, we want to literally bring people closer, as we will be performing with them or with a large part of them on stage, alongside us.

I understand that part of the audience will be on the stage of the Athenaeum?

Yes. Unfortunately, only around 100 people, because the stage cannot accommodate a larger number, but we are happy to be able to do this. So far, we have received positive feedback. The industrialization of classical music, so to speak, has led to larger halls to accommodate as many seats as possible for acoustic, and possibly visual, reasons. This separates the audience from the artists and distances them in this way. So we want to bring them as close as possible to experience this deeper and more direct contact with the music. So far, we see that it has this effect.

Are you somehow trying to revive the format of "Schubertiades" and music salons?

That is exactly what we are aiming for because that's how chamber music originally started. Of course, it comes with certain risks. The first would be the limited number of seats, but I think it is an exchange worth making. It's a different feeling, even for us. It is very interesting to feel the people two or three meters away from us. It is a sensation that is worth reproducing.

How did you select the pieces that make up the musical program of the tour? I understand you will be playing works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Josef Suk, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, and Darius Milhaud.

We get this question often, and I can't say there's a deep philosophy behind the repertoire. However, our idea was not to approach the most accessible repertoire just for the sake of attracting people. Certainly, Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata is a work of the highest quality and depth and accessible to the public, but we have also included, for example, Milhaud's piece "The Cow on the Roof," which is a new work. As far as we know, it hasn't been performed in Romania before. It's a bit unusual but also very entertaining.

How would you describe your collaboration with pianist Mihai Diaconescu?

We haven't known each other for very long, I think not even for two years, but we share the same goals, somehow both intuitive and sincere in our musical approach. We're not trying to do anything just to attract people or to gain a certain level of fame. We want to play out of love for music and, of course, we want to inspire others to feel the same way. So, we have formed a fairly deep friendship, being similar in our thinking.

Do you have any memorable experiences from the tour that you would like to share?

I have to admit it's quite fun; we try not to take things too seriously. There's this risk when you perform a lot and appear in front of many people that you become too serious, academic, and formal, but we try to push away those feelings, and we see that the audience responds well. We're trying to eliminate the barriers between musicians and the audience, to be all like in a salon where people discuss, laugh, and listen to quality music. So, each individual experience is remarkable.