The Romanian Cultural Institute, the Ministry of Culture and Artexim are organising a series of conferences and recitals to promote the 19th edition of the "George Enescu" International Competition, across the most important European cultural centres. The first events - a conference and a recital - will take place on Monday, the 4th of March, in Vienna.
We will find out more from Cristina Uruc, the director of Artexim. Welcome!

Good evening, Lucian! Thank you very much for the invitation!

Glad to hear you. What exactly will happen on Monday in the Austrian capital?

I'm happy to announce the start of our series of concerts and conferences on Monday, in the Austrian capital. They promote the International George Enescu Competition, which will take place this year between the 31st of August and the 27 of September. As we are still early into promoting it, the registration deadlines for the instrumental sections are the 10th of May and for the composition session - the 30th of June. Together with the ICR, the Ministry of Culture and the embassies representing Romania in the countries where we will hold this tour, we wanted to promote both Enescu's music and the former winners of the "George Enescu" International Competition. Thus, this series of concerts will start on the 4th of March in Vienna. We will be there alongside Maestro Cristian Măcelaru, His Excellency the Romanian Ambassador of the Republic of Austria, Mr. Emil Hurezeanu, the Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Vienna, and the two former winners - Alexandra Segal and Maria Marica - who will perform works of George Enescu, Debbusy, Schumann and Brahms. We are expecting the Romanian community in Vienna, but especially we hope to have a considerable and a consistent presence from the Viennese community both at the conference that will take place at the ICR headquarters and as well as in the beautiful Ehrbar Saal, from 7 pm.

And how will the promotion of "George Enescu" International Competition continue? What's next after Vienna?

After Vienna, Madrid - Spain will most likely follow. We are in talks with Lisbon; Chișinau is already confirmed for the 26th of April. Next, London - UK. We will be at the Royal Academy together with the Romanian Cultural Institute in London in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, on the 27th of April. Thus, we will fly from Chișinau to London. Budapest, Brussels and other important cities will follow, where we will address both the student community and those who are interested in the programme that the festival will have in the next edition - a schedule that we will not reveal in its entirety, but that we will present as a teaser, so that people will pay attention to what will happen in the competition and learn about the festival.

You've already talked about signing up. It can be done until May, and until the 30th of June for the composition section. How are the sign-ups looking so far?

As we know and are used to from previous editions, the January-March sign-ups are minimal, but we are getting very good signals as we are receiving phone calls and emails every day. My colleagues who are the jury secretaries of the competition receive daily e-mails and phone calls ranging from the repertoire, to the logistics of our arrival to Bucharest and so on. So, we are optimistic that the number of entries will increase compared to the previous edition and I believe that this series of concerts that we are organising in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Ministry of Culture, will certainly attract more and more participants. This is a project that we want to run for many years to come.

And on top of that, this year, in 2024, the "George Enescu" International Competition returns to its original format, after two editions adapted to the context of the pandemic. This time there will be four rounds in Bucharest.

Yes, it will take place entirely in Bucharest, between the 31st of August and the 22nd of September. We have another project that we will announce this month, between the 23rd and the 27th of September, but will reveal the details when we announce the project.

The four rounds for the instrumental section return to their original formula and structure. They will take place in Bucharest. The first round will host and accept a maximum of 50 contestants, then we will move on to the second round with 12, in the semi-final - 6 and the final - 3 contestants, who will play with the orchestra.

One new feature I would like to mention for this year's competition is that, for the first time in this position, the opening and the cello final will be accompanied by the National Radio Orchestra. The violin and the piano final will be accompanied by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.

In this case, Cristina Uruc, I put forward an open invitation to talk about the second project, starting from the 23th of September to the 27th of September. Until then, good luck on this tour which, I remind you, will start on Monday, the 4th of March in Vienna.

So be it! Thank you very much!