The Radio Music Season continues on Wednesday, the 13th of March, with a concert by the Radio Chamber Orchestra, featuring cellist Răzvan Suma in a solo role. During an interview with Ioana Țintea, the musician shares his thoughts on returning on the stage of the Radio Hall and much more.

Mr. Răzvan Suma, on the 13^th of March you will be returning on the stage of the Radio Hall as a soloist, accompanied by the Radio Chamber Orchestra, which will be conducted by Noam Zur. Are you looking forward to collaborating with the Israeli artist and the other musicians in the ensemble?

I met Noam Zur 15 years ago in Cluj, and I liked him very much. We have performed together about 4 or 5 times since then, and he was also a special guest for the first cello festival in Romania two years ago, during its first staging. It's an extraordinary collaboration, he's a fantastic musician, flexible, we resonate together wonderfully and we get along very well. We feel great both on stage and off stage.

Regarding the Radio Chamber Orchestra, of course, I share the same feeling of appreciation, and I am convinced it will be a fantastic concert.

The Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major by Joseph Haydn is the score you prepared for the Radio Hall performance on Wednesday. Why did you choose this particular piece?

I thought of returning to some classics. During my previous concerts, accompanied by the Radio Chamber Orchestra, I've managed to perform works that I hadn't played before - orchestrations of Cassado's sonatas, a sonata arranged by Schubert, Arpeggione sonatas even. I've played countless pieces because, as the soloist of the Radio Orchestra for the past 12 years, I have to bring something new. Well, now I've decided to go back to Haydn, and I think it's a beautiful return for me because I have very fond memories not only alongside the Radio Chamber Orchestra, but also because I recorded this concert, it's very familiar and dear to me. It's a concert with a very easy-to-understand tonality. Definitely, it must be in the top 5 cello works.

It's the equivalent of world literature for a cellist.

Absolutely, yes.

Moving on, let's focus on the CellEAST Festival - a very unique initiative in the Romanian cultural space. How were you feeling when you started this project 3 years ago?

It was a brave initiative. We didn't have this niche in the conglomerate of Romanian cultural activities. It's a niche festival, but this applies to many countries because cellists seem to be drawn to each other like magnets. Another musician complimented me by asking "What do you play?" I said, "Cello." "Mhm, he said, you guys are the ones who do things together, right?" That's exactly what this is about. There are cello festivals in Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, there used to be in Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia. Well, in Romania, there was none, so we invented it. And not only that, but we managed to create a hub and gathered the best artists from all these countries. The organizers are all extraordinary cellists, and I would like to mention Atanas Krastev, Dragan Georgevici, Denis Severin, László Fenyö who was here last year.

This is the third staging of the festival. We also came up with some extraordinary novelty for all young cellists around the globe. We will have the first staging of the CellEAST Competition. We already have participants from 17 culturally strong countries, and because the cello schools are very good, it will be an extraordinary show at CellEAST- CellEAST Competition, CellEAST Festival, and, of course, on the educational side, there's the CellEAST masterclass, split between two sections - Future CellEAST and MiniCellos.

Since you mentioned the competition, tell us a bit about the jury members.

There will be two juries because there are four age categories. For the first three categories, the jury will consist of Atanas Krastev from Bulgaria, Krzysztof Karpeta from Poland, Ella Bokor from Romania (the main organizer of the festival), Ștefan Cazacu, Mircea Marian. And for the senior category, the jury will be chaired by Maestro Marin Cazacu, followed by Denis Severin from Switzerland and Ukraine, Răzvan Suma and two special guests: Wen-Sinn Yang, who is a professor in Munich, and Marius Urba, also from Germany, an extraordinary cellist. I'm glad he's coming to Romania with his Trio, which recently won the ARD International Music Competition.

The CellEAST Festival will unfold between the 6^thof May to the 15^th of May. Please tell us about the artistic program of the festival.

Of course, there will be two concerts at the Romanian Athenaeum, at the "George Enescu" Philharmonic Orchestra. There, Wen-Sinn Yang and Marius Urba will perform. The Karpetaduo - Krzysztof and Julia will cover the baroque part of our Festival. Then, there will be a concert with all the cellos present at the festival, the traditional group concert, where the repertoire will be very, very attractive. Trio "Marvin," which I mentioned earlier, will perform on the 11^th of May. Then, there will be two more concerts by students participating in the masterclass, an event at ArtMark, and on the 14^th of May, we will conclude at the Radio Hall with a concert featuring three soloists - Atanas Krastev, Denis Severin, and Răzvan Suma.