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