The George Enescu International Festival 2025 (August 24 – September 21) has announced -beyond the instrumental concerts – opera and ballet performances, concert versions of operas, and symphonic productions that incorporate contemporary dance.
The press release says: « Opera and ballet, expressions of the complexity of a world in motion, return to the Enescu Festival in updated and vibrant formats, in line with contemporary forms of stage expression. Through the diversity of the repertoire—which includes both reinterpreted classical masterpieces and recent choreographic creations—the 2025 edition of the Festival proves to be a living space of excellence and dialogue between disciplines, generations, and cultures. »
On Monday, September 15, 2025, at 7:00 PM, Enescu’s masterpiece Oedipe will be presented on the stage of the Bucharest National Opera in a monumental stage production signed by Italian director and visual artist Stefano Poda that brings to the present the universality of Sophocles’ tragedy.. Conductor Tiberiu Soare will lead an elite cast, with baritone Ionuț Pascu in the title role, alongside mezzosopranos Ruxandra Donose (Jocasta) and Ramona Zaharia (the Sphinx), bass Vazgen Gazaryan (the High Priest), tenor Paul Curievici (Laius), and baritone Bogdan Baciu (Creon), together with soloists of the Bucharest National Opera.
Enescu’s Oedipe in the production of the Bucharest National Opera
On Thursday, August 29, 2025, at 7:30 PM, L’heure espagnole by Maurice Ravel will be presented at the Bucharest National Opera, in a production signed by Tompa Gábor, a multi-awarded Romanian director active in Europe and the USA. Scenography is by Carmencita Brojboiu, and the international cast is accompanied by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducted by James Gaffigan, one of the most active and versatile American conductors of the moment.
Also, two new ballet productions have been included in the official program of the George Enescu International Festival. The dance performances scheduled within the festival are an expression of the synthesis between poetry, music, and movement, with a strong visual component that highlights remarkable collaborations.
On September 2, 2025, at 7:00 PM, at the Studio Hall of the National Theatre, choreographer Gigi Căciuleanu presents the performance DinDor’NdoR, set to music by Dan Dediu, with set and costume design by Viorica Petrovici. The production is realized by the Sibiu Ballet Theatre and ArtProduction Foundation, with the support of JTI.
On September 9, 2025, at 7:00 PM, at the Ion Caramitru Hall of the Bucharest National Theatre, the performance Les Saisons will be presented—a choreographic meditation on the cyclicality of life, set to music by Antonio Vivaldi and Giovanni Antonio Guido. The production is realized by Malandain Ballet Biarritz and the Royal Opera Orchestra of Versailles, with choreography by Thierry Malandain, one of the most important European choreographers, and Argentinian conductor Andrés Gabetta at the podium.
The George Enescu International Festival includes in this year’s edition six major masterpieces of the musical literature in concert version:
On Saturday, August 30, 2025, at 4:30 PM, at the Romanian Athenaeum, Dardanus by Jean-Philippe Rameau (1744 version), will be performed by the ensemble Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Écurie and the Namur Chamber Choir under the baton of Emmanuel Resche-Caserta,.
On Monday, September 1, 2025, at 8:00 PM, at Sala Palatului, the opera Salomé, Op. 54 by Richard Strauss, will be performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. In the lead role – soprano Jennifer Holloway.
On Friday, September 5, 2025, at 10:30 PM, at the Romanian Athenaeum, the Baroque opera Il trionfo della fama, a serenata per musica in one act by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, will be performed by the celebrated Accademia Bizantina and the Purcell Choir, under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone.
On Sunday, September 7, at 1:00 PM, at Sala Radio, Mozart’s The Magic Flute will be presented by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen—celebrating 145 years of activity—and the Chorwerk Ruhr, conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski.
On Sunday, September 7, at 4:30 PM, at the Romanian Athenaeum, conductor Arnaud Arbet will lead the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance of Endgame (Fin de partie) by György Kurtág, marking the 99th anniversary of the birth of the Romanian-born composer.
On Sunday, September 14, 2025, at 7:00 PM, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Op. 29 by Dmitri Shostakovich will be performed at Sala Palatului by the National Radio Orchestra and the Radio Academic Choir, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, with multimedia direction by Carmen Lidia Vidu. The great soprano Kristine Opolais will play the role of Katerina Izmailova, alongside a top-tier international cast.
In the lyrical music register, we also note the opera gala performed by soprano Sonya Yoncheva, who will be accompanied by the Radio Chamber Orchestra, with a program of famous opera arias – Sunday, September 21, at 4:30 PM.
On Thursday, September 11, at 5:00 PM, at the Romanian Athenaeum, Breaking Bach offers a choreographic reinterpretation of Baroque music performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and British choreographer Kim Brandstrup – a key figure in contemporary European dance.
On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at 8:00 PM, at Sala Palatului, the famous conductor Iván Fischer leads the Budapest Festival Orchestra in a hybrid event: the ballet The Miraculous Mandarin, Sz. 73 by Béla Bartók, will come to life through the expressive dance of the Eva Duda Dance Company, in a powerful visual and sonic synthesis. The evening will continue with another work by Bartók, the opera Bluebeard’s Castle, Sz. 48.
For the complete schedule, visit www.festivalenescu.ro
