The Enescu Month In London - Enescu (Un)known

James Jolly, Editor-in-chief at The Gramophone chairs a panel of distinguished Enescu specialists and aficionados, which discusses the great composer’s outstanding musical legacy. Accompanied by rare pictures and historical footage, casting an unexpected light on the life and work of George Enescu.
Speakers: Sir Noel Malcolm – the leading English authority on Enescu, Oltea Şerban Pârâu – music critic and musicologist, Cristina Andrei – Director of Enescu Museum in Bucharest, Oana Marinescu – Communication & PR Director at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest.

Sir Noel Malcolm is a historian, philosopher and journalist, and the leading English authority on Enescu. From 1981 to 1988 he was a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and is now Foreign Editor of The Spectator. A frequent visitor to Romania (and a trustee of the Mihai Eminescu Trust, which gave support to dissidents during the Ceaușescu years), he was the first Westerner to study Enescu’s manuscripts in the Enescu Museum in Bucharest after the museum had been closed down by the Communist government.

James Jolly is Editor-in-Chief of Gramophone magazine - often called the Bible of the classical music recording industry. He was editor of Gramophone from 1989 to 2005 and since then has been Editor-in-Chief. After four years of co-presenting BBC Radio 3's weekday morning programme 'Classical Collection', he has moved to Sunday mornings, with Rob Cowan as his fellow presenter.

Oltea Şerban-Pârâu is a music critic and musicologist and, since 2013, the Director of the Radio Romania Cultural Media Centre. Her career encompasses activity as a musical, artistic and press adviser to musical institutions and prestigious national and international festivals, as the editor of musical publications, and as a jury member for major national and international music competitions. Between 2005 and 2013 she was director of the Radio Romania Cultural station. Since 2009 she has been director of the Romanian Radio Orchestra and Choir.

Cristina Andrei is a graduate of the Department of Musicology of the National University of Music in Bucharest. She has been a curator since 1995 and, in 2012, was appointed Director of the 'George Enescu' National Museum in Bucharest. Cristina Andrei has studied both archives and private collections and uncovered new documents, which have formed the basis of a series of exhibitions dedicated to the great Romanian musician.

Oana Marinescu is the Communication Director of the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. From 2000 to 2004, she worked as a consultant in public communication and as a political and press officer with the British Embassy in Bucharest, covering Romania and Moldova. Between January 2005-February 2007, she was State Secretary and Romania’s Government Spokesperson, after which, between March 2008 to July 2010, she took on the role of Director General for Public Diplomacy with Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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The Enescu Month in London (23 January – 7 February 2015) is the culmination of more than 7 uninterrupted years of memorable soirées dedicated to the totemic figure of Romanian symphonic tradition and organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in association with the Enescu Society of London. Bringing together Romanian and international musicians under the aegis of the great composer, the monthly 'Enescu Concerts' Series has turned 1 Begrave Square into a space of discovery, initiation, and delight.


The Enescu Month in London is a star-studded tribute, featuring the chamber ensemble of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist and professor Remus Azoiței, the spectacular violin duo Gabriel Croitoru – Liviu Prunaru, accompanied by pianist Horia Mihail, and historians, music critics and promoters like Sir Noel Malcolm, James Jolly, Oltea Şerban Pârâu, Cristina Andrei and Oana Marinescu.


Special guest: Mihai Constantinescu, director of the Enescu International Festival Bucharest.

The programme’s chamber concerts, talks and special events, running for several weeks, is a prelude to the premiere of George Enescu’s 'Symphony No. 3' by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski at Royal Festival Hall on 7 February 2015.