This year’s edition of the George Enescu International Festival, the largest classical music event in the country, will feature performances from some of the top sopranos and mezzo-sopranos of the moment. Among them are Asmik Grigorian, Sonya Yoncheva, Kristine Opolais, Magdalena Kožená, Julia Lezhneva, Sarah Aristidou, Jennifer Holloway, Aylin Perez, Elsa Dreisig, Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Ruxandra Donose, Judit Kutasi and Ramona Zaharia.
Soprano Asmik Grigorian will take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum on August 31, 2025, for a recital featuring works by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, George Enescu, and Maurice Ravel, accompanied by pianist Lukas Geniušas.
Sonya Yoncheva, the winner of the 2021 Opus Klassik award for “Singer of the Year,” will perform at an event part of the Athenaeum Concert Series, accompanied by the National Radio Orchestra on September 21.
Soprano Kristine Opolais will perform the title role in the in-concert version of the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk op. 29 by Dmitri Shostakovich on September 14 at the Palace Hall. She performs alongside the National Radio Orchestra and the Academic Radio Choir, under the baton of conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. Opolais will be joined by bass Andreas Bauer Kanabas (as Boris Izmailov), tenor Vincent Wolfsteiner (Zinoviy Izmailov), tenor Pavel Černoch (Serghei) and mezzo-sopranos Maria Barakova (Sonietka) and Michelle Trainor (Aksinia).
Mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená will take the stage of the Palace Hall on August 30, together with the Santa Cecilia National Academy Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding. The program includes Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs, the symphonic work La Mer by Claude Debussy, and Sinfonia by Luciano Berio.
Julia Lezhneva will deliver a recital on September 20 at the Romanian Athenaeum as part of the Midnight Concert Series. The program will include arias, madrigals, and songs by Italian composers Giulio Caccini, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, and Giovanni Paisiello. Lutenist Luca Pianca will accompany her.
Sarah Aristidou will perform on September 2 together with the ensemble Les Siècles, conducted by Franck Ollu. The program includes works by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, and George Enescu’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major.
Well-known soprano Jennifer Holloway will perform the role of Salomè in the in-concert version of Richard Strauss’s Salomè. She will perform with the WDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, on September 1. The opera’s cast also includes baritone Iain Paterson (as John), mezzo-soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Herodias), tenors Gerhard Siegel (Herod) and Oleksiy Palchykov (Narraboth).
The 27th edition of the George Enescu International Festival takes place between August 24 and September 21 in Bucharest. This year’s edition marks 70 years since the death of composer George Enescu. This year’s program includes over 95 concerts.
(Photo: Enescu Festival)
simona@romania-insider.com
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