Bucharest’s George Enescu International Festival truly represents Europe’s cream of the crop in classical music-making. With over 95 concerts spread over four weeks, featuring some of the world’s greatest ensembles and soloists, it can be hard to know where to begin. This preview can only highlight a small portion of rich offerings in this year’s programme, which runs from 24th August to 21st September.
In 2025, Artistic Director Cristian Măcelaru returns for the second Enescu Festival of his tenure. Conducting the festival’s Romanian-infused opening concert, this year he also performs with Orchestra National de France, where he is music director, in two Ravel-dominated programmes. In addition, he conducts the WDR Symphony Orchestra, where he is also Chief Conductor, in a concert performance of Strauss’ electrifying Salome.
Celebrations for Ravel’s 150th anniversary are inaugurated by a performance of clockwork comedy L’Heure espagnole on the festival’s first Friday, with James Gaffigan leading the Orquesta de la Communitat Valenciana in a staging at Bucharest’s National Opera House. This year’s festival is especially strong for opera fans, with seven operas performed in concert across the festival’s four weeks. Other operas performed over the festival include Conti's Il trionfo della fama, Rameau’s Dardanus, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, and Kurtág’s Fin de partie.
Enescu’s epic Œdipe, his only opera, is also given a rare outing. As ever, the Romanian composer’s romantic and often surprising music forms a natural pillar of the festival’s programming, appearing throughout and in both the opening and closing concerts. The opening concert juxtaposes Enescu’s lyrical Poème roumaine against boisterous Khatchaturian, and on the festival’s final Sunday, Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra perform the Romanian Rhapsody no. 1 alongside Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Ravel performances likewise form a thread through the programme this year. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo perform two Ravelian programmes, one featuring the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand performed by Nelson Goerner, and another the next day conducted by Charles Dutoit featuring violinist Daniel Lozakovich. Ravel-infused programmes are also given by the Giocoso String Quartet and the duo of Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andnes. And Franck Ollu conducts renowned French period-instrument ensemble Les Siècles in an intriguing programme juxtaposing Ravel with Pierre Boulez.
Born in 1925, Pierre Boulez is another composer receiving anniversary celebrations this year. In addition to Les Siècles, Ensemble intercontemporain – the contemporary ensemble he founded – will perform some of his smaller scale, soloistic pieces, including the early classic Douze Notations for piano as well as later electronics-infused works. The Academy of St Martin in the Fields performs Boulez’s Mémoriale, Boulez’s tribute to Igor Stravinsky.
Luciano Berio, born the same year as Boulez, is also featured at this year’s festival, with a performance of his famous magnum opus Sinfonia by Daniel Harding and the Orchestra dell’Academia Santa Cecilia. Berio’s ghostly, postmodern completion of Schubert’s Tenth Symphony, titled Rendering, is also performed this year, by Mäkelä and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. It is programmed against Mahler’s Fifth Symphony – and Berio was strongly influenced by Mahler, quoting his music extensively in the Sinfonia.
Fans of modern and contemporary music should watch out for a few standout concerts. The opening evening contains the festival’s major new commission this year, a new Concerto for Orchestra from leading Romanian composer Dan Dediu. His music is also performed by the New European Ensemble later in the festival, alongside offerings from Turnage and van de Aa. Percussionist extraordinaire Dame Evelyn Glennie also performs at this year’s festival, with the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, in a wide-ranging, eclectic programme. Other living composers with music this year include Zbigniew Preisner, whose Requiem for My Friend is performed by Sinfonia Varsovia, as well as György Kurtág (who just turned 99) – his remarkable opera Fin de partie is performed by the George Enescu Philharmonic.
However, the core of the Enescu Festival are major symphonic works of the canon, performed by some of the world’s best orchestras. There are really too many to mention – some that caught our eye include performances of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and Manfred Honeck, Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Tonhalle-Orchester and Paavo Järvi, Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony with the Philharmonia and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Other recommended performances of large-scale works include Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique with Les Siècles, Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle performed by Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé performed by Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France.
As ever, the Enescu Festival features the world’s leading concerto soloists. Among the many appearing this year are Martha Argerich, performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia, Augustin Hadelich, performing Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Renaud Capuçon, leading Schumann’s Violin Concerto with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. In addition, Alexandre Kantorow performs Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic, and Colin Currie performs Sir James MacMillan’s percussion concerto Veni, Veni Emmanuel with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – this is just a small handful.
The Enescu festival is also an opportunity to hear the best Romanian musical talent. The Romanian Radio National Orchestra performs Shostakovich’s devastating Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in concert, and also performs on several other occasions across the festival. The State Philharmonic of Sibiu, Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacău and Transylvanian State Philharmonic also perform, as do other ensembles from nearby: the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, and the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.
To explore the Enescu International Festival programme further, check out our complete listings, which can be filtered by date, composer and performer.
The George Enescu International Festival runs from 24th August to 21st September in Bucharest.
This article was sponsored by Primo Artists.
