Chamber music festival SoNoRo readies Wagner-inspired edition in Bucharest, Cluj

Eighteen concerts and two talks are part of this year’s program of chamber music festival SoNoRo, in an edition inspired by Richard Wagner.

Under the headline ‘Endless Melody,’ the program draws on Wagner’s concept of music in which the phrase never comes to a stop, and in which every sound carries meaning, the organizers explained.

The festival will open on October 30 at the National Museum of Art of Romania, with the concert Lord of the Strings. The program will feature works by Richard Wagner, Ernst Chausson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and William Walton, performed by violinists Mi-Sa Yang and Erik Schumann, violist Răzvan Popovici, cellist Justus Grimm, and pianist Diana Ketler.

On October 31, audiences are invited to Bragadiru Palace for the concert Colors: Jazz in Motion, delivered by Ksenia Parkhatskaya and her band. Ksenia, a dancer, choreographer, singer, and actress “who turns every moment into a celebration,” together with her husband and David Duffy, her creative partner in developing the program, will welcome the public “into a world of music, movement, cinematic colors, and joy.”

Other concerts will be held at the Romanian Athenaeum, Arcub, the Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tinerimea Română National Art Centre, Control Club, the Grand Hall of the Romanian Cultural Institute, and the Anglican Church.

In Cluj-Napoca, concerts will take place at Casino – Urban Culture Centre, Casa Boema, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Auditorium Lounge at Oberjin Club, Casa NUMAÀ, the Franciscan Monastery in Cluj-Napoca, and Auditorium Maximum at Babeș-Bolyai University.

This year, we will encounter the spirit of Richard Wagner, a multifaceted and controversial figure, as it often happens with those who change the course of history.

“You are already familiar with our unconventional approach, lateral thinking, and the different perspectives we propose through the theme of each edition. This year, we will encounter the spirit of Richard Wagner, a multifaceted and controversial figure, as it often happens with those who change the course of history. His works and artistic philosophy influenced not only other composers but also poets, painters, and playwrights,” Răzvan Popovici, the founder and executive director of SoNoRo, said.

“When I began imagining a possible theme for the 2026 SoNoRo Festival, one composer invaded my thoughts and dreams (although, in my case, having grown up in the world of opera, he had always been present there in one way or another),” Diana Ketler, the festival’s artistic director, explained.

“The composer who wrote virtually no chamber music, with the exception of the Tribschen Idyll, with birdsong and an orange sunrise, also known as the Siegfried Idyll, composed for a small ensemble – in fact, a small orchestra – as a tribute to his wife, Cosima, and the birth of their son, as well as the Wesendonck Lieder, a passionate tribute to his romantic love for Mathilde Wesendonck, written for female voice and piano. Just two works, but both extraordinarily beautiful, and then – grandiose theatre, opera and drama. Was it a challenge to build a program for a chamber music festival around this extraordinary figure? Absolutely. But it was also the most thrilling adventure,” she added.

The artists invited to this year’s SoNoRo Festival include violinists Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, Boris Brovtsyn, Barnabás Kelemen, Katalin Kókas, Mihaela Martin, Alissa Margulis, Aylen Pritchin, Júlia Pusker, Erik Schumann, and Mi-Sa Yang; violists Sarah McElravy, Răzvan Popovici, and Mathis Rochat; cellists Justus Grimm, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Valentin Răduțiu, and Alexey Stadler; pianists Diana Ketler, Konstantin Lifschitz, Louis Lortie, and Eldar Nebolsin; clarinetist Thorsten Johanns; mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu; bass-baritone Pauls Putnins; and jazz singer and dancer Ksenia Parkhatskaya.

The SoNoRo cultural platform comprises the SoNoRo Festival, which has been running for 21 years, SoNoRo Interferențe, a scholarship and workshop program for young musicians (in place for 20 years), SoNoRo On Tour (12 years), SoNoRo Arezzo (10 years), SoNoRo Conac, a summer concert series held in heritage buildings across Romania (14 years), SoNoRo Musikland, a festival dedicated to the heritage and traditions of Transylvania (8 years), SoNoRo Cayman Islands Week (3 years), SoNoRo Kids (3 years), the SoNoRo Strings Orchestra (3 years), and the New Year’s Concert (3 years).