Sept. 13 – It’s been only a year since RadiRo’s success, the International Festival of Radio Orchestras, and today the RAI Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale, led by its chief conductor Juraj Valcuha, returned to wow the Bucharest audiences in a double appointment – Sept. 9-10 – at the George Enescu Festival. Established in 1958 and named after the famous Romanian musician, the festival is in its 21st edition, taking place every two years, in the capital, Bucharest, and in other major Romanian cities. The event is synonymous with music, art and culture dedicated to the composer, violinist, conductor, teacher and pianist, considered in Romania, the greatest musician of all time. The Rai Orchestra this year left a mark in the event, being welcomed with enthusiasm. Thanks to more than ten minutes of applause every night and a request for a double act, the Rai team was among the most successful orchestras at the event, alongside the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, conducted by Mariss Jansons, the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, the London Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, conducted by Antonio Pappano. In front of over five thousand spectators, including the many children and young people who filled for two consecutive nights the Sala Mare Palatului of Bucharest, the RAI Orchestra proposed a dual program. On both occasions, Juraj Valcuha and the Rai Orchestra received a long applause from the audience with two much appreciated encores, they played the Sinfonia from Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi and the Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini.
