© Virgil Opina
The Romanian Sinfonietta Orchestra made its debut in 2010 at the International Festival “Enescu and World Music” in Sinaia. The orchestra is led by Maestro Horia Andreescu and was founded, like the Romanian Youth Orchestra and the Junior Orchestra, by cellist and teacher Marin Cazacu. Dedicating itself to masterpieces of the romantic and classical repertoire, the orchestra introduces young Romanian musicians to great symphonic music, uniting them in the most impressive works of creation and teaching them individual and collective responsibility. The orchestra consists of young musicians aged 16 to 20 who are selected from all over Romania; it has been invited to perform in Bucharest, Sinaia, Busteni, Campina, Brasov and Sibiu. Recognition soon followed: thus, after its debut in 2010, the Romanian Sinfonietta Orchestra performed at the Romanian Athenaeum as part of the “Magic Summer” Festival in 2012 and 2013. In 2012 and 2014, the orchestra had the honour to perform with the great pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja. This concert marks its debut at Young Euro Classic and its first concert outside of Romania.
Konzerthaus, Berlin
© NDR/Thorsten Jander
© Eugen Oprina
Horia Andreescu is Music Director of the “George Enescu” Philharmonic Orchestra and founder and conductor of the Chamber Orchestra “The Virtuosi of Bucharest”. He was born in Brasov, Romania, in 1946. After studies at the Bucharest Music Academy and Vienna Music Academy he won numerous prizes at major international competitions such as Nicolai Malko (Copenhagen) and Ernest Ansermet (Geneva), and he was awarded the “Critics Prize” at the Berlin Biennale of Music and the prize “Conductor of the Year” of the Romanian Critics Union. During the 1980s and 1990s Horia Andreescu worked as a permanent guest conductor with three leading German orchestras: Radio Orchestra Berlin (RSB), Dresden Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Schwerin. He is frequently invited to conduct major orchestras such as Staatskapelle Berlin, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. For the leading European radio companies, Horia Andreescu has completed more than 1.000 productions in addition to 70 CD recordings.
Romanian pianist Daniel Goiti is one of the most sought-after pianist soloists in Romania and Eastern Europe. He has performed as a soloist with prestigious orchestras in the US, England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece, Japan, and Israel. His recordings include the Rachmaninov Concerto No. 2, Variations on a Theme by Paganini, the Beethoven Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1. Daniel Goiti is the recipient of numerous international prizes and awards, including the Kawai Award, Gold Medallist at the A. Schnabel Competition, Berlin, Germany, as well as the winner of the prestigious George Enescu International Competition and the Romanian Composers Union Prize. Daniel Goiti, born in 1968, is a graduate of the Academy of Music “G. Dima” in Cluj-Napoca, where he is currently Professor of Piano and Head of the Piano Department.
Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 (1901)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B-flat-Minor Op. 23 (1875)
Symphony No. 8 in G-Major Op. 88 (1890)
7 pm: Pre-concert Lecture in the Werner-Otto-Saal
Free for ticket holders (admission at 6:45 pm)
Moderation: Karl Heinrich Wendorf
In cooperation with the Körber Foundation.
PROGRAMME
Romania, Russia, Czechia: the Romanian Sinfonietta Orchestra brings a partly Romanian, partly Slavic programme to the Festival in Berlin. The young musicians begin by paying homage to their compatriot George Enescu: the famous violinist, conductor and composer created a resounding monument to his country with his popular Romanian Rhapsodies. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 may boast the most famous opening chords in all of classical music, equalled only by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. However, it is definitely worth listening to the entire work, which combines sparkling brilliance and thundering chords with deeply melancholy moments. After the intermission, the Romanians perform Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, an indisputable masterwork impossible to tire of, offering a wealth of beautiful melodies, pleasant harmonies and rhythmical reminiscences of the composer’s Bohemian homeland.
