Set in an idyllic vision of a Southern Italian village square, Donizetti’s delightful opera tells of the romantic rivalry between the penniless Nemorino and the bumptious Sergeant Belcore for the love of the beautiful, bookish Adina, whose reading of the tale of Tristan and Isolde makes poor lovesick Nemorino think that the wonder-working Dr Dulcamara might have just the potion his heart requires.
Witty, charming and ultimately deeply touching, this is Italian opera at its intoxicating best.

Romanian-born soprano Eliana Pretorian appears in the role of Giannetta.
‘L’Elisir d’Amore’ is also playing at Glyndebourne during August 2009.

Details on www.glyndebourne.com

Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca will perform at the Young Vic Theatre this summer, in Sarah Kane’s play ‘4:48 Psychosis’.
Sarah Kane is one of the most controversial playwrights of the 20th Century. ‘4:48 Psychosis’, her last play, is a brutal and poetic exploration of a mind preparing to shut itself down. Spiked with gallows humour, the play charts the journey of a mind and body from darkness into light, from pain into love, from life into death.

This intense and vital experience delves deep in to the psyche, blurring the boundaries of sanity and insanity and shows us a heart-breakingly honest tragedy of consciousness.

For ‘4:48 Psychosis’ BAFTA winning actress Anamaria Marinca will be directed by Christian Benedetti.
Leading French director Christian Benedetti has done pioneering work in France and elsewhere with challenging contemporary playwrights (Edward Bond, Sarah Kane, Biljana Srbljanovic, Gianina Carbunariu, etc).

Anamaria Marinca trained at the George Enescu University of Fine Arts, Music and Drama in the city of Iasi, Romania. Her cinema acting debut was in Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days’. More recently, she was seen on UK cinema screens in Radu Munteanu’s ‘Boogie’.

Details on www.youngvic.org

One of the world’s greatest Gypsy groups, Taraf de Haidouks perform on 20 July in a unique concert in the Paul Hamlyn Hall.
A troupe of Romanian Roma musicians from the village of Clejani, their shows burst with intense passion and overflowing energy. The clattering virtuosity and passionate Gypsy rasp of this orchestra of honourable brigands will steal your breath away. Ever since the release of their first album in 1991, Taraf de Haidouks have been considered the epitome of Gypsy music’s fabulous vitality. In recent years they have toured all over the world, have released acclaimed albums and a DVD and their countless fans include the late Yehudi Menuhin, Kronos Quartet (with whom they have recorded and performed) and actor Johnny Depp (alongside whom they appeared in the film ‘The Man Who Cried’).

Details on www.roh.org.uk

Programme:

Franz Schubert: ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 59. no 2

Details on www.blackthorpebarn.com

The Jette Parker Young Artists bring The Royal Opera Season to a thrilling close with their Summer Concert - a unique annual event in which all the Young Artists perform together. This year they will be joined by former Young Artist Rory Macdonald as conductor, Royal Opera principal Jeremy White as guest singer and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.

Soprano Simona Mihai will appear as Zerlina in excerpts from Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’, and as Sophie in Jules Massenet’s ‘Werther’.

While studying in the UK, Simona Mihai was supported by the Ratiu Foundation
Details on www.roh.org.uk

‘Sequelism, Part 3: Possible, Probable and Preferable Futures’ is an ambitious, multi-faceted project that looks into the future and at that which is yet to happen. It will consider how the inexact arena of futurology is used as a means to better comprehend the present and the past. Other featured artists include Heman Chong, Mariana Castillo Deball, Graham Gussin, Francesc Ruiz, Jordan Wolfson, Haegue Yang.
Romanian artist Victor Man won international renown when his work was presented in the Romanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The event confirmed the strength of his work, which, in just a few years, has established him as one of the most interesting voices from Eastern Europe. His artistic output ranges from painting to sculpture, from installation to wall painting and printing. Using these tools, he builds installations in which the motif of memory intertwines with themes such as personal history, collective narrative, eroticism, power, desire, and the feeling of loss. The world of Victor Man is at times a dark one, in which reflections on the feeling of belonging and the nature of political and national identity overlay a more general contemplation of the human condition, melancholy, the violence of existence, and solitude.

A show curated by Arnolfini and Latitudes.
Details on www.arnolfini.org.uk.

Palinka is an all-female band in London who have been brought together by their shared passion: Romanian, Gypsy, Jewish, Saxon and Hungarian folk music from the remote villages of Transylvania.

Palinka, incidentally, is the most famous spirit drunk in Transylvania, and the music is just as powerful and heart-warming as the drink.

Details on www.palinka.co.uk .

Alexandra Dariescu is one of the fine artists who have an exciting future ahead of them. This will be amply demonstrated in her recital which contrasts the classicism of Beethoven, the romanticism of Chopin, and the exoticism of Debussy.
This concert is part of the Chester Music Festival.

While studying in the UK, Alexandra Dariescu was supported by the Ratiu Foundation
Details on www.chesterfestivals.co.uk .

Programme:

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor D784
Johannes Brahms: Klavierstücke Op. 118
Charles-Valentin Alkan: Le Festin d’Esope Op. 39 No. 12; Barcarolle in G minor No. 6 from ‘Troisieme recueil de chants’ Op. 65; ‘20 ans’ from ‘Grande sonate: Les quatre ages’ Op. 33
Frederic Chopin: Nocturnes Op. 27 - No. 1 in C # minor; No. 2 in Db
Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 in A minor

The young pianist Shwan Sebastian was born in Bucharest in 1979 and studied at the Music Academy of Bucharest with Professor Dr Stela Dragulin. He has won numerous first prizes and awards in his native Romania and is already established there as a significant artist. At the age of 19 he played all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos over two evenings, and he has given several premiere performances of Alkan’s work in Romania. Recent recital tours in Europe, including Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany (where his recital in Dusseldorf ’s Tonhalle was broadcast live) have confirmed his reputation and met with much critical acclaim. This concert marks his London debut.

Details on www.wigmore-hall.org.uk .

Programme:
W A Mozart: Sonata in B flat major KV378
Robert Schumann: Sonata no 2 in G minor, op 22
Franz Schubert: Impromptu no 1 in F minor, opus 142
Romanian violinist Horia Vacarescu performs in a lunchtime concert, organised by the Royal College of Music, at the beautiful St Mary Abbot’s Church, in Kensington.

Also performing: Victoria Royce (piano), and David Malusa (piano).

While studying in the UK, Horia Vacarescu was supported by the Ratiu Foundation