The Romanian capital of Bucharest, with its vibrant mix of history and modernity, once again becomes center stage for one of the most significant cultural gatherings in Eastern Europe: The 27th George Enescu International Festival (August 24 – September 21, 2025) marks the 70th anniversary of the death of the Romanian national composer.
In honor of what he describes as “Anniversaries / Celebrations,” Artistic Director Cristian Măcelaru presents over 100 concerts with 4,000 artists from 28 countries. Over four weeks, Bucharest and several other cities are transformed into a pulsating hub for music, dance, and artistic dialogue.
For the first time, the program offers a comprehensive portrait of Enescu, including more than 45 performances of his works, culminating in a new staging of his opera Oedipus. Alongside these tributes, the festival spans from Beethoven, Mahler, and Brahms to Shostakovich, Ravel, and Gershwin, while also highlighting contemporary voices such as Arvo Pärt and innovative projects such as Breaking Bach and the cross-genre Midnight Concert Series.
This anniversary edition reaffirms the festival’s mission: to honor tradition while opening bold new paths for the future of music.
Last weekend I had the chance to immerse myself in this atmosphere — and to speak with three key figures who shape the unique spirit of the festival with their performances, concerts and visions: Music Director Christian Măcelaru, American conductor James Gaffigan, and Romanian choreographer Gigi Căciuleanu.
For Măcelaru, now in his second year as the festival’s Music Director, three words capture the essence of this year’s festival: Innovation, Excellence, Conversation. Under his leadership, the program has expanded across new venues and cities, offering an unprecedented range of repertoire and artistic encounters.
Excellence, he stresses, means hosting world-class artists back-to-back while keeping an eye on nurturing young talent. Măcelaru, for example, considers the competition named after Enescu not just as a prize-giving event, but as a launchpad for careers: “Everything that I do in the festival is in the spirit of Enescu — not just to promote his music but his values,” he told me.
Yet the festival is more than a showcase; it’s a bridge. As a Romanian-born American conductor, Măcelaru embodies this role personally. “Culture can be such an important ambassador to bring people together,” he says. Romania presents itself through the festival as vibrant, diverse, and open. For him, music and culture are not luxuries but essential tools for peaceful coexistence.
In a concert for families and children, Christian Măcelaru intertwined storytelling with George Enescu’s music. Photo credit: Maria Gindac.
James Gaffigan’s mantra: ‘Leading with compromise, patience, and trust’
When I asked James Gaffigan to describe himself in three words, he responded promptly: Compromise, Patience, Trust. These qualities, the American explained, are essential for a conductor who wants to create genuine dialogue with musicians and audiences alike.
This spirit also shapes the way he thinks about performance. Fresh from conducting a French repertoire with tenor Benjamin Bernheim, he described how natural it feels to approach Debussy or Ravel without a baton — relying instead on openness and flexibility. Just as he adapts to the needs of a singer or orchestra, Gaffigan adapts to the spaces in which music can unfold.
For the American, the future of classical music lies not only in the great concert halls but also in reaching beyond them. He recalls performances with the Komische Oper Berlin in an abandoned beer factory or looks ahead to performing Mahler’s Eighth at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport. Such venues, he believes, help break down barriers, bringing new audiences into contact with music they might never otherwise encounter. Above all, accessibility is inseparable from inclusivity: whether by offering free tickets to first-time listeners or by making audiences feel welcome without having to worry about etiquette.
The celebrated Romanian choreographer Gigi Căciuleanu rose to prominence through modest means. Photo credit: Ciprian Zinca.
With his new immersive dance performance Onirius, Romanian choreographer Gigi Căciuleanu invites us into the realm of dreams. Inspired by the Romanian word Oniric, which means dreams, he blends dance, imagery, and projection and encourages the audience to let its imagination run free. “You can never really show a dream; you can show impressions of dreams,” he told me.
Lines — vertical, horizontal, bodily, spatial — are at the core of his artistic philosophy. Whether working with children from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Paris or professional dancers in Bucharest, Căciuleanu treats movement as a universal language of lines, angles, and imagination.
Dreams for him are also about survival. Twice, he says, puppet theatre saved his life: first as a child expelled from school for political reasons during the communist era, then later while dancing with closed eyes alongside his mentor Miriam Răducanu, a pioneer of modern Romanian dance. Căciuleanu’s stories reveal how improvisation, freedom, and play can generate not only art but resilience.
Bucharest – a cultural capital full of surprises
For anyone attending the Enescu Festival, Bucharest reveals itself not only as a stage for extraordinary music but also as a travel destination in its own right — a place where tradition, modernity, and warm hospitality meet.
The Romanian capital struck me as a city of contrasts blending Belle Époque grandeur with a youthful, creative energy. One of its most emblematic landmarks is the Romanian Athenaeum, a neoclassical concert hall crowned with a dome and decorated with striking frescoes. Considered the cultural heart of the city, it offers world-class acoustics and a uniquely intimate atmosphere. This year, it not only hosted major symphonic concerts but also the much-loved Midnight Concert Series, drawing audiences into magical late-night performances.
And while I did not explore Bucharest’s restaurants in depth during my stay, the city’s food culture struck me as a true melting pot. Romanian cuisine blends flavors from its neighbors and past influences: the meze-style spreads reminded me of Greek tables, while sweet layers of baklava revealed the Ottoman imprint that also shaped much of the Levant, including Israel.
A festival of connections
The George Enescu Festival 2025 showed itself as not just a Romanian cultural highlight but a global meeting point. Its essence lies in this interplay between tradition and innovation, excellence and inclusivity, the real and the dreamt.
Or, as Enescu himself might have appreciated: music and art are never static — they are living bridges into the future.
