With the occasion of the visit of the members of the jury of the International Classical Music Awards in Romania, the Brașov Philharmonic will host Saturday, January 27^th, 2024, the Gala Concert entitled "Pe-un picior de plai, pe-o gură de rai", organized in partnership with Radio România Muzical. Read more about the event in an interview with our colleague Sarah Natsis, in which violinist Iuliana Münch shares her ideas:

Mrs. Iuliana Münch, you will attend a gala concert dedicated to the visit to Romania of the ICMA jury, which includes our colleague Cristina Comandașu- manager of Radio România Muzical. How do you assess the importance of this event?

The ICMA jury's visit to Romania is, indeed, of great importance for all Romanian musicians and for Radio România Muzical. I am delighted, in particular, that Romania is part of this international European jury and for this visit, for the first time in Bucharest, which is a great opportunity for Romania's image for the European culture. This ICMA jury has been known to us here in Germany, in all European countries, for many years and the fact that Romania now has the opportunity to take part in these ICMA jury events, in the gala concerts, in all the events that are of great importance within European culture, makes me very happy.

During the event, you will perform two works signed by the pianist and composer André Parfenov, your duo partner. How would you describe them?

We usually perform under this motto - "the composer on stage", which is what we will do in this gala concert in Brasov. They are pieces written by André Parfenov, with a different theme, so they are not related to each other, they are pieces that André Parfenov wrote for us, for different festivals or they are compositions written for different cultural events. One of the pieces is Pensée á Ravel, a piece for the left hand, for pianists - of great importance, a special piece written for a festival dedicated to pieces for the left hand, which André Parfenov wrote many years ago for Tonhalle Düsseldorf. And the last piece we're performing, Mephisto Walzer No. 1 is a piece of great virtuosity for pianists, which everybody knows - Franz Liszt, but this time it's going to be in a violin-piano version, which is absolutely special (only Parfenov Duo has this in the programme), in which, as André Parfenov said, I will show my efficiency of playing the piano on the violin.

Coming back to Saturday's event, the Brasov Philharmonic will also feature violinist Alexandru Tomescu, violist Răzvan Popovici, pianist Ioan Dragoș Dimitriu and pianist Eduard Kunz. Have you performed on the same stage before?

I'm thrilled to be with my lifelong musicians and friends. I'm from the same generation as Alexandru Tomescu, with whom I've been a classmate since 4th grade, I think. They are my lifelong friends and great musicians. It is a great honour to be on stage together in this gala. We have played on the Brasov stage before during the Brasov Philharmonic season, but not in the Sala Patria, and André Parfenov has played several times with the Brasov Philharmonic as a soloist in concerts by Tchaikovsky, Rahmaninov, with conductor Cristian Oroșanu and conductor Radu Popa. So, not exactly a stranger to the Brasov public.

We are very happy to be back in Brasov. Thank you very much, Radio România Muzical and Mrs Cristina Comandașu for this invitation and I hope to represent Romania and the musicians of Europe with dignity and great joy. To be able to be in this gala is an honour, but also our duty towards Romania to represent it in this concert.