Bujor Prelipcean, manager of the "Moldova" Philharmonic in Iași, talks about the last part of the philharmonic season an about the progress of the works for the renovation and modernization of the institution's building, and announces some plans for the future.

What does the Iași Philharmonic propose for the last part of the current season? What would be some of the key points?

First, allow me to offer a beautiful mărțișor to my former colleagues and to those who have listened to us for years, the Voces Quartet, which, as you well know, was a member of the Romanian Radio Society for over 25 years. This is the March gift I offer you today, a wonderful start of the week that I also wish for you! Here we are in this beautiful spring. On March 6th, Luiza Borac, whom we bring from Germany almost every year, will perform alongside an exceptionally skilled conductor, Gottfried Rabl from Austria. After that, next week, we have conductor Radu Postăvaru and Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu playing the flute. After that comes the Gavriil Musicescu Choir, presenting some very old Baroque works this time, conducted by Consuela Radu-Țaga, followed by Ioana Cristina Goicea and Sander Teepen, then Liviu Prunaru, who is a monthly visitor at our philharmonic, with a Brahms concert conducted by Junping Qian. We also have Valentin Șerban again, who is very dear to us, and not only because he won the first prize at the Enescu Competition. After that, we approach the Metropolitan Cathedral, where our choir, Gavriil Musicescu, will respond to the Holy Mass of Palm Sunday; and here comes Daniel Jinga again, performing Mozart's Requiem. After the Orthodox Easter comes Ștefan Cazacu alongside Kazuki Wada - an exceptional conductor who was a laureate at the Jeunesses Musicales Conducting Competition in Bucharest. He will perform in a second concert with

Alexandra Dariescu. Next up is another world-renowned pianist, Stefan Arnold, who is the head

of the piano department at the University of Music in Vienna. In May, during the International

Chamber Music Festival, violinist Cristian Pintilie will perform together with the pianist Mihai Ungureanu, Dan Arhire at the guitar, and Vlad Hrubaru at the violin. After that, Luz Leskowitz and Misa Hasegawa. And we will once again have the Ad Libitum Quartet with the pianist Andrei Licareț performing Schumann's quintet. Some more beautiful concerts will follow, Cristian Oroșanu performing Richard Strauss's 'Wandrers Sturmlied', the symphonic poem 'Don Juan', and so on. After that comes Andrei Ioniță, a phenomenal cellist, together with Arthur Arnold, and again Radu Postăvaru with Liviu Prunaru, Sander Teepen with Gabriel Croitoru - we only bring wonderful artists. In the meantime, we will also hold a concert in Vaslui, and then we will reach the month when we will end the season. On June 3rd, we commemorate Eugen Doga. It is something we do with great joy and sincerity. There will be a memorial concert conducted by Bogdan Chiroșcă, professor at the University of Arts, and Consuela Radu-Țaga is training the choir. We will probably have a soprano from this choir and a tenor with a promising career, Gabriel Bârjovanu, a tenor who performed for 20 years in Norway. After that, the saraband of joy will begin, because on the 5^th we have the symphony with Lawrence Foster and soloist Alexandra Conunova, an exceptional violinist. The following week, on the 12th, we have Lawrence Foster again, who is offering us a complete Beethoven program with Cristina Păsăroiu. Maestro Foster invited her and assured us that she is an amazing soprano. The season will close with George Enescu's Symphony No. 3 with choir in C major, Op. 21, conducted by Cristian Mandeal. We will have a piano concert by Johannes Brahms - Concerto No. 1. Finally, because it is the 26^th and because on the 28^th and 29th we commemorate 85 years since the Pogrom in Iași, we have added a few more works to commemorate this sad moment. But we are happy that the season is ending en fanfare.

Radio România is currently running the "Stay Safe Online" campaign, dedicated to the digital safety of minors. In the age of digital addiction and social isolation, how is the Iași Philharmonic reaching out to teenagers and young people?

Young people come in greater numbers than those of my age or younger. Young people are the first to come to our concerts. Now, during concerts, the musical programs certainly leave no room for doubt that they are made and conceived for the entire spectrum of our listeners. What you propose could be done with music in which we have some comments and some special concerts. This is a goal, a very important target for us, but I will only be able to do it in 2027, when we will open with great confidence and joy the new hall of the "Moldova" Philharmonic in Iași, which will be ready in November-December.

How is the current situation regarding the rehabilitation and modernization works?

Very good. Very good. I am very satisfied. And here I would like to once again thank those who showed courage during this period, first and foremost the Iași County Council and the Iași City Hall.

Once again, since the 14^th of February 1999, this is my second term as director to date. I was also director between 1984 and 1988. Since then, the philharmonic needed to be repaired. I kept repeating, repeating, repeating, and consequently, between 1984 and 1988, we were called "crickets". It was the worst period of my life as a manager. I managed to persevere until now, when my words finally took shape and I had some people around who understood. Am I doing this for Iași? Yes. It means that Iași deserves these people who work for them.