Radio România Internațional

Tag: music

  • August 5, 2016 UPDATE

    August 5, 2016 UPDATE

    SUBSCRIPTION – The Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has announced, at the end of the subscription campaign for the “Centenar” government securities, that the issue has been a success and it has attracted more than 700 million lei from citizens. He has also said that more than 20,000 people participated in the campaign, which could be seen as the start of a process with the help of which Romanians will get familiarized with a set of financial tools. The Romanian Finance Ministry issued government securities for citizens in 2015, for the first time after 10 years, with a nominal value of 1,000 lei. Most investors are from the urban area, with Bucharest on top of the subscription list.



    ECONOMY-The National Bank of Romania has revised downwards this year’s inflation forecast. According to the Central Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu, inflation will remain negative until the end of 2016, although in May the estimated rate was 0.6%. Isarescu has stated that in 2017 inflation will return to the variation range targeted by the National Bank, and in 2018 it will reach the upper end of the range.



    MOURNING — The President of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, on Friday signed a decree to declare August 13, 2016 a day of national mourning, “in token of deep regret and grief for the death of Queen Anne of Romania.” The state flags will be flying at half-mast in all towns and cities, as well as at the Moldovan diplomatic and consular missions. The funeral of Queen Anne of Romania is scheduled for August 13, at the Curtea de Arges Monastery, in southern Romania. Princess Anne of Bourbon Parma, known as Queen Anne, 92, the wife of Romania’s last king, Michael I, passed away in Switzerland, after a long suffering.



    TURKEY-The US Secretary of State John Kerry is going to pay a visit to Turkey on August 24th, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has announced. The American official’s visit will take place approximately one month since the failed military coup in Turkey, which rendered bilateral relations rather tense. Ankara has repeatedly called on Washington to extradite preacher Fethullah Gülen, accused by the Turkish authorities of having masterminded the coup. The US has called on Ankara to provide evidence of Gülen’s involvement. On Thursday, a court in Istanbul issued a warrant for the arrest of the former imam, which is the first step in the process of starting a formal request for his extradition. The US Department of State has stated that the US is analysing the new documents submitted by Turkey. Fethullah Gülen, who’s been living in the American state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any involvement in the failed coup.



    FESTIVAL-The Romanian Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu has held talks in Bucharest with the director of the EUROPALIA International Festival, Baroness Kristine De Mulder, who paid a visit to Romania over August 2nd – 5th. Comanescu has mentioned Romania’s successful covering of the stages needed for it to be the guest of the 2019 edition of the festival, which is the most important such event in Belgium. Launched in Brussels in 1969, Europalia is a international art biennale, which promotes the heritage and cultural diversity of the guest country. In 2017, the honorary guest will be Indonesia. At the previous editions, the guests have been Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, China, Brazil, India and Turkey.



    MUSIC-“Untold”, the biggest music festival in Romania, continues in Cluj Napoca, central Romania. Until August 7th, the audience will have the opportunity to see over 150 international artists and some of the most en vogue DJs in the world. The organisers of the event estimate that the turnout will stand at some 350,000 people in four days of festival.



    FOOTBALL — Romania’s football vice-champion team, Steaua Bucharest, will face the strong England team Manchester City, in the Champions League play-off round, according to Friday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland. Steaua will play the first match on home turf, and the return match away from home. If it goes past Manchester City, Romania’s vice-champion team will qualify to the Champions League group stage. Otherwise, Steaua will play in the Europa League group stage. Also on Friday, Romania’s champion, Astra Giurgiu, found out what team it will be facing in the Europe league play-offs: the English team West Ham United. Astra failed to qualify to the Champions League play-off round, after sustaining a 3-0 defeat away from home with Copenhagen FC, and ended the first match 1-1, on home turf.


    (Translated by M. Ignatescu and D. Vijeu)

  • August 28, 2015 UPDATE

    August 28, 2015 UPDATE

    16 Romanian citizens are being investigated in the Hungarian capital city for participating on August the 26th in two different cases of human trafficking. In a news conference given in Bucharest, the press service of the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced two other Romanian nationals had been taken into custody in Hungary and are being investigated for the same reason. As regards the scores of migrants found dead in a truck which was left abandoned near the Austrian-Hungarian border, the Romanian Foreign Ministry has confirmed the owner of the truck is not a Romanian national and no Romanian citizen got involved in this dramatic incident, investigated by the Austrian police.



    The total population residing in Romania remains under 20 million people, according to preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute. On January 1, 19,861,000 people were residing in Romania, down 85,900 since the beginning of the previous year. The urban and female population account, respectively, for 53.8%, and 51.1% of the total, and the ageing phenomenon is deepening, the difference between the population over 65 and the young population of up to 14 years of age having widened to more than 300,000 people. The survey also indicates that Romania remains an emigration country, with a number of emigrants 42,000 higher than the number of immigrants last year.



    The Bucharest Court has dismissed a notification filed by the management of the Romanian Air Traffic Authority (ROMATSA) regarding the unlawfulness of the strike announced by employees. Their union leaders announced an all-out strike starting September 1, unless an agreement is reached with the Transport Ministry on the unions demands. Air traffic controllers want a pay rise, the reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 55, improved working conditions as well as the resignation of the management. On July 15, the employees went on a two-hour token strike, an unprecedented situation in the Romanian air transport system. According to the Romanian Air Traffic Authority, which currently has around 1,500 employees, between 2,500 and 3,000 planes transit the Romanian territory every day. On Wednesday, union leaders from the state-owned sector announced that 85,000 public sector employees might express their solidarity with the air traffic controllers planned strike.


    Romanian managers believe the economic situation of the country will improve slightly until the month of October, a conjectural investigation conducted by the National Statistics Institute shows. It is estimated that the volume of activity will grow in three of the four domains included in the analysis, the processing industry, trade and services, against the backdrop of a relative stability of prices. Also, the number of employees will go up in the field of trade and will further be stable in other sectors. The Secretary General of the Association of Romanian Businesspeople, Cristian Parvan, has told Radio Romania this high level of optimism is determined by the VAT reduction for foodstuffs and the decrease in oil price on the international market.



    A delegation of the committee for the Romanians around the world with the Romanian Senate has started a working visit in Herta and Storojinetz counties and to Cernauti (Chernivtsy) in Ukraine. The members of the delegation will hold talks with Ukrainian government officials and with MPs on the rights of the Romanians living in the neighbouring state. The president of the committee, senator Marcel Bujor has told Radio Romania that most ethnic Romanians in Ukraine do not have access to education in their native language, do not have newspapers in Romanian, are facing difficulties in the effort to preserve their religious identity and do not have a representation at parliamentary level.



    In Romania, the autumn session of the Baccalaureate exam concludes today, when over 36,000 high-school graduates give the last written test in their chosen major. The first results will be announced on September 1, appeals may be filed on the same day. The final results will be made public on September 4. Around 55,000 high school graduates took part in the autumn session of the Romanian Baccalaureate.



    The date of early legislative election in Greece was set for September the 20th. Former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who stepped down on August 21, agrees to this date, whereas some opposition parties, such as the New Democracy (conservative) and the Popular Unity (of the Syriza splinter group), prefer the date of September 27th, to benefit from a longer electoral period. The announcement is officially opening the election campaign and was made public just minutes after the first meeting of the new interim Greek government, led by Vassiliki Thanou.



    The Romanian Youth Orchestra will open in Bucharest on Sunday night the 22nd “George Enescu International Festival. Nearly 2,500 foreign artists and 500 Romanian ones will take part in this years edition of the Festival. The participating orchestras include the San Francisco Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, conducted by the world famous Zubin Mehta, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian State Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg Orchestra, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. According to the organisers, the 2015 edition of the largest cultural event organised in Romania and the worlds leading promoter of the works of the great Romanian composer George Enescu, will take place between August 30 and September 20, and will consist in 58 indoor concerts and many other outdoor events.



    For the first time in 12 years, Romania will have no representatives in the group stage of the European inter-club football competitions. Although on Thursday night Romanian champions Steaua defeated Norways Rosenborg Trondheim, 1-0 away from home, the Romanians were knocked off the Europa League play-off, because the Norwegian team had won in Bucharest 3-0. The new failure comes after Steaua was also eliminated from the third round of the Champions League by the Serbian team Partizan Belgrade. Also in Thursdays Europa League play-off, Astra Giurgiu failed to qualify, after losing 0-2, against the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar, which it had beaten in the first leg. The other two Romanian teams in the competition, vice-champions ASA Targu Mures and FC Botosani, were sent home from the qualifiers stage. According to Romanian sports media, the last hope for the local football fans remains the national team, which is the leader of the preliminary group of next years European Championships. Romanias next match in the group is scheduled for September 4, when the national team takes on Hungary in Budapest.

  • 5 renowned radio symphony orchestras at the second edition of RadiRo!

    5 renowned radio symphony orchestras at the second edition of RadiRo!

    For an entire week, at the end of September, the concert hall and the ‘sound podium’ will join together at the RadiRo Festival, a unique musical event in Europe, which will bring in Bucharest 5 radio orchestras, along with internationally renowned soloists and conductors!


    The Festival is organized by Radio Romania, a friend and devoted supporter of classical music, who, ever since 1928, when the first radio signal has been sent into ether, continues to provide to its listeners both musical jewels broadcast on radio waves and live musical productions performed at the Romanian Radio Hall.



    And if the National Radio has brought to the Romanians’ houses, across decades, the magic baton of Herbert von Karajan, the violin of Yehudi Menuhin or live broadcasts from George Enescu International Festival or from various first-rate European musical events, RadiRo is pleased to invite you, at its 2nd edition, to step into the concert hall and listen live to outstanding orchestras and musicians whom the Romanian public has mostly had the privilege to listen only on the radio by now.



    In 2012, the first edition of RadiRo has brought on the Romanian musical stage prestigious symphony ensembles such as BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.


    This year, at its 2nd edition, the 8 days of Festival will see performing in Bucharest the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France and the Romanian Radio National Orchestra, under the baton of world acclaimed conductors: Joshua Weilerstein, Ondrej Lenárd, Stéphane Denève, Case Scaglione, Vassily Sinaisky, Tiberiu Soare and Cristian Mandeal.



    Virtuosos of a refined artistic sensibility will perform during the RadiRo evenings: pianist Jonathan Biss, soprano Katarina Jovanovic, pianist Jan Simon, together with violinists Nikolaj Znaider and Vadim Gluzman, mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose, pianist Horia Mihail, and violinist Alexandru Tomescu.


    The remarkable personality of the honorary artistic director of the Festival, conductor Cristian Mandeal, brings about a substantial added value and prestige to the RadiRo Festival. With hundreds of concerts conducted in 35 countries across 4 continents, performing in the company of the most reputed contemporary artists, Cristian Mandeal is today among the great Romanian conductors who belong not only to Romania, but to the entire world. With a peerless refinement and artistic generosity, Cristian Mandeal sparks off in the concerts he conducts — and the audience promptly feels it every time! — a true communication ‘chemistry’ both with the orchestra and the public.



    It is precisely the same energy flow that RadiRo Festival aims to convey, so that music may travel freely in the vivid space of the concert hall! You are therefore invited to make a step forward in the journey we’ve started two years ago, so as to enjoy together an event which celebrates the harmony, extraordinary vitality and timeless verity of classical music!



    Cristian Mandeal, Honorary Artistic Director of RadiRo 2014: “Now at its second edition, RadiRo — The International Festival of Radio Orchestras has won fast a well deserved reputation in the local cultural landscape. Equally welcome is the international dimension of the event, hosting from one edition to another renowned European orchestras, with the same specific profile and the same educational and promotional aims, which are brought together in a single space and time so as to give their best, bring an outstanding original approach and engender new evaluations, comparisons and competitions, like true barometers of a higher artistic European climate from where the competitive fair play spirit cannot miss by any means.”



    Jan Simon, pianist, director of the Czech Radio ensembles, festivals and competitions: “I think that the organization of this Festival is a splendid idea. We have tried a similar project in Prague 5 years ago at the Radio Autumn Festival. We have invited at that time the radio symphony orchestras from Leipzig, Hilversum and Budapest. But we were not able to earn a sponsorship for the second edition. I am glad that Radio Romania is continuing this idea and especially at such a level! The second edition of RadiRo International Festival will see performing in Bucharest Orchestre National de France, Vassily Sinaisky and Nikolaj Znaider. You have organized an exceptional festival!”



    Oltea Şerban — Pârâu, Director Radio Romania Media Cultural Centre: “What makes this Festival unique is that it hosts exclusively radio orchestras and not philharmonic, opera or other kinds of symphony orchestras. It is important because the public radio has generated a musical movement and all across Europe public radio broadcasters hold still this double mission, a media and a cultural one, which is highly supported by their orchestras and choirs. Romania takes pride in having a powerful radio component in this field, with a symphony and a chamber orchestra, an academic choir, a childrens choir, a jazz and a folk orchestra, therefore we are very well represented among the other European public radio broadcasters.”



    Producer and organizer: Radio Romania


    Co-producer: TVR


    Under the patronage of the Romanian Government


    Sponsors: Vodafone


    Official transport: Dacia


    With the support of: Banca Transilvania, Borsec, ARCUB, Catering Romania, Librăriile Cărtureşti



    Media partners:


    Adevărul, Dilema Veche, Observator Cultural, Caţavencii, Şapte Seri, Business Review, Suplimentul de cultură, Agenţia de carte, Ziare.com, Actualitatea Muzicală, Ziarul Metropolis, Librăriile Humanitas



    *For further details about the program and guests of this edition of the Festival please visit the Festivals web page: www.radirofestival.ro and the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/radiro.festival.


    *Tickets to RadiRo 2014 are available on www.bilete.ro, at all offices of the Romanian Post Company, in the Inmedio Stores bearing the Bilete.ro logo, in the Germanos stores as well as at the Romanian Radio Hall Box Office.