On Sunday, the 19^th of March, the XI edition of the "SoNoRo Conac" Tour begins with a concert at the Choral Temple in Bucharest. More details about this new series of events from the violinist Răzvan Popovici, the tour manager.

The title is a play of words, of course, just as in the previous years when our tour had names such as "Near a low foothill, At Heaven's doorsill". Through " Fiddler on the Roof", on one hand, we wanted to suggest the beauty of those buildings and of the actual buildings that we'll fill with music during this tour; on the other hand, "Fiddler", refers to the violinist, the folk singer and the virtouso, because this english word embodies all three conotations. Besides me, we have four other extraordinary European violinists: Tatiana Samouil, a Moldavian, Romanian and Russian artist, and very well-known to the Romanian public. Then, we'll hear for the first time Aylen Pritchin, winner of the "Tchaikovsky" Competitions, as well as a great young violinist. Then there's Kirill Troussov, another virtouso of the violin, who we've seen at the "Conac" concerts from a couple years ago and Alexandra Tirsu, who we've invited for the first time last year at the XVII edition of the "SoNoRo" Festival and who is a very promising young Moldavian with Romanian roots. This Spring, us fiddlers, so to speak, we'll fill with music the castles, the manors and the places that we've chosen.

We're starting the eleventh edition of the "SoNoRo Conac" tour on Sunday, the 19^th of March, , at the Choral Temple, the great synagogue on the Sfanta Vineri street in Bucharest, a place we already know, a place that we've inaugurated a couple years ago with my concert.

I still remember, it was a wonderful concert with Mihaela Martin and Frans Helmerson, as well as other invited artists. We'll open this edition there. It's a place that I'm sure not many people from Bucharest know, because they haven't had the chance to go there, but it has been restored flawlessly and it has beautiful acoustics. Then, we'll continue our journey the next day at Teatrul National Caracal, another edifice unknown by many and that is worthy of a really beautiful Italian town, such an impressive building. The last concert of March will be held on Tuesday, the 21^st of March at Muzeul de Arta din Ploiesti, another beautiful building, with an impressive collection of Romanian paintings, where we're glad to bring the tour after 15-16 or even 17 years. Then, in June, we'll continue the tour not far from Timisoara, in the Socolari village. I think the public already knows that the Socolari village is some kind of village of the artists from Timisoara, and that the painter Gheorghe Fikl has a beautiful house there, a place for concerts that he created in the last years and we're very glad to bring "SoNoRo Conac" there. We'll combine music and painting, as we at SoNoRo like to combine arts.

Then, the tour continues in the festivity hall of Tribunalul Arad. To be honest, when I've first seen this building in photos, I couldn't believe it, it's an imperial, beautiful, tall building. I'm sure the acoustics is great and I'm very glad that the authorities had the generosity and the courage, so to speak, to give us this hall where usually trials and not concerts are taking place. We'll bring a bit of good cheer there. Then, the tour continues at the church in Gherla, then at church of Manastirea Franciscanilor, restored by architects from Cluj, then we'll honor another flawless restoration project in Pomus, not far from Bistrita, Castelul Teleki that's just been finished and that became one the most beautiful restored places in Romania.

The tour will end on the 27^th of June at Colonia Pictorilor in Baia Mara. We know the importance that the school of Baia Mare, the painting school in Baia Mare has, and I dare say, it's importance for European painting. I am very glad that we'll finish the tour there. The place is connected to music as well, because they organize concerts there very often. I've discovered the place by chance, last year during the Lucian Ban tour, so, as you can see, some musicians play in one place, then others find out or others come back and thus we'll bring these places back to the cultural map of Romania.