Legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at Athenaeum Summer Festival 2023 in Bucharest

The George Enescu Philharmonic invites classical, contemporary, and jazz music lovers to discover the sound of summer at the Athenaeum Summer Festival in Bucharest. The program includes beloved classical music, two surprise jazz evenings with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, premieres with Gülsin Onay, and last but not least, a nighttime concert on the Esplanade of the Athenaeum.

The festival will take place between June 23 and 27 at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. Tickets are available on the platform www.ove.ro and at the George Enescu Philharmonic Box Office, and admission will be free for the concert on the Esplanade of the Athenaeum on June 24.

"In its second edition, the Athenaeum Summer Festival (ASF) represents a premiere of this kind in the history of the George Enescu Philharmonic and the Romanian Athenaeum. We aim to open classical and contemporary music, as well as the entire experience of the Athenaeum, as a cultural and spiritual symbol of Bucharest, to the general public, in a relaxed atmosphere of joy, reclaiming the pleasure of living," said the cellist Marin Cazacu, the director of the George Enescu Philharmonic.

The legendary American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, winner of 12 Grammy Awards and the first artist to win Grammys in both the jazz and classical music categories in the same year, for two consecutive years (1983, 1984), will be one of the stars of ASF 2023. He is also the composer of the oratorio "Blood on the Fields," the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis will be joined by the Jazz at Lincoln Center, an internationally renowned orchestra of 15 of the best jazz soloists and instrumentalists, as special guests at the Athenaeum Summer Festival 2023.

There will be two surprise concerts on June 25 and 26, where the program, in the spirit of legendary American music, will be announced on stage on the evening of each performance. The George Enescu Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, under the batons of prestigious conductors Josep Caballé Domenech and David Crescenzi, will be joined by internationally acclaimed soloists. The first is French pianist Lise de la Salle, returning for the third time to Romania after two concert experiences at the George Enescu International Festival (in 2007 and 2021).

The second is Turkish pianist Gülsin Onay, an exceptional interpreter of Chopin, who has also been awarded the Medal of the Polish People's Republic for her virtuosity in performing his works. She will make her first appearance in front of the Romanian audience in a recital on June 24, which will include much-loved pieces by Chopin and Mozart, as well as a work by one of the most esteemed Turkish composers of Western music, Ahmet Adnan Saygun, performed for the first time in Bucharest.

Violinist Rafael Butaru, concertmaster of the George Enescu Philharmonic and the National Opera of Bucharest; soprano Veronica Anușca, tenor Valentin Racoveanu, and baritone Mihai Damian will complete the artistic program of the ASF 2023 Festival. The program covers all genres and generations, with equally brilliant and popular works by great musicians such as Chopin, Haydn, Mozart, Vivaldi, Enescu, Borodin, Manuel de Falla, Joaquin Turina, and Ciprian Porumbescu, performed at a high level of artistic excellence in the spectacular setting of the Romanian Athenaeum.