The "New Hope" Orchestra founded by cellist Octavian Lup, together with the "Prelude-Voicu Enăchescu" Choir and the BRD Choir, will perform a charity concert on Tuesday, the 3^rd of December 2024, in the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum. Octavian Lup gives us more details in an interview with our colleague Ioana Țintea.

Mr. Octavian Lup, like last year on the 3^rd of December, on the occasion of the International People with Disabilities Day, the New Hope Orchestra will perform a special charity concert dedicated to raise funds for the Climb Again Association. What motivated you to get involved again in this worthy cause called "The Undefeated"?

We are very happy that, once again, Radio Romania Muzical is supporting the New Hope Orchestra's initiatives and, as it happened last year, this year we will dedicate this concert to the Climb Again Association. It's an association that deals with people with disabilities, especially children, who climb, who do sports. It's a very nice thing indeed. And we, from New Hope, had a very big success last year with this concert, so it was a pity not to do it again this year.

On the 3^rd of December, at the Romanian Athenaeum, the New Hope Orchestra will be accompanied by the BRD Choir, the "Prelude-Voicu Enăchescu" Choir and together we will give a great concert.

Conductor Andrei Stănculescu will be in charge of the orchestra and of the whole musical part, so the success will be assured and we believe that people who will come to the concert, besides the fact that they will listen to quality music and an exceptional repertoire, will have the opportunity to donate, because, practically, the ticket they will buy is the countervalue of the donation to the Climb Again Association. So, there you have it, we have all the possible elements to both do a good deed and enjoy the music and atmosphere.

While we are in the month of gifts, December, it is all the more beautiful to meet at the Romanian Athenaeum, make music, enjoy it and give.

Are tickets still available for the concert at the Romanian Athenaeum? As you said, every ticket sold means support for those who, despite the odds, don't give up.

Exactly. The undefeated are each one of us if we understand that when you fall down, it is important to get up and when you can't do it alone, there are others who have to bend down and pick us up. And the best is when we are the ones who pick up the fallen.

Let's get together to enjoy the music and lend a helping hand to those in need, so that on the 3^rd of December, which is the International People with Disabilities Day, will be a meaningful day for everyone attending this event!

Tell us about the evening's program. What does it include?

The program of the evening will be very interesting and slightly atypical, I would say. We will have a piece by Thomas Tallis, which is an absolutely splendid piece for 40 voices. The next work is a piece by Vaughan Williams; it is written basically for two orchestras and a doubled string quartet, so in the Romanian Athenaeum, one orchestra will be on stage and one orchestra will be at the back of the hall. We will have a stereo audition, if I may. The work is absolutely fabulous -less well known perhaps to the general public, but all the more reason why it should pique the curiosity of music lovers. And, last but not least, the well-known Messiah oratorio, about the birth of the Savior, which fits this period like a glove.