With an over seven million-euro budget and performances by 185famous singers and orchestras, the George Enescu festival andinternational competition is one of the events that defy thecrisis.
Likened by the international press to the Salzburg Festival (oneof the biggest events of its kind in the world, but which boasts afive times higher budget), the Bucharest festival has attracted anaudience of almost 100,000. "The international press attending theevent said in terms of performances and of organisation, thefestival is among the top three European festivals, behind theLausanne festival and on a par with the Salzburg Festival," saysMihai Constantinescu, manager of Artexim, the company thatorganises the event. The Romanian festival also ranks third inEurope in terms of number of concerts - 175, of which 37 outsideBucharest (which compares with Salzburg's 198, for instance).
40% of the tickets were booked as early as in May, with thefestival's events being almost sold out.
"The Midnight Concerts series held at the Romanian Atheneum wassold out, five of the Sala Palatului (Palace Hall) concerts weresold out, and so were the National Theatre events, while ticketsfor Opera House events were 98% sold," said Valentin Vasiloiu,executive manager of Eventim, the network that sells the tickets.The festival debuted on August 30th with the "Oedipe" opera byGeorge Enescu, a coproduction of the Bucharest National Opera Houseand Théâtre du Capitole, and will end on Saturday.
For almost a month, 3,000 famous musicians and artists have beenpresent in Bucharest, either to perform within the festival, or toparticipate in one of the competition's three sections.
This month's classical music concerts have been held in severallocations among which Sala Palatului, the Romanian Atheneum, theRadio Hall, the Romanian National Opera House and the BucharestNational Theatre, with connected events organised in several citiesacross Romania.
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