SoNoRo Conac proposes a summer à la française

29.05.2019

SoNoRo Conac proposes a summer "À la française"

SoNoRo Conac "À la française" continues in June and July and invites the public for a harmonious summer vacation. Chamber music will resound fantastically in the impressive fortified churches of the Haferland, as well as in castles, villas, manor houses and other historic buildings representative of the Romanian cultural heritage in the counties of Brasov, Oradea, Sibiu, Argeș and Iasi. The concert program is composed of works by great French composers such as Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, Francis Poulenc, as well as classical music giants such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach, along with works by Grigoraș Dinicu, Iacob Mureșianu, Johan Halvorsen, Béla Bartók, Eugène Ysaÿe, Anton Arensky, Gustav Mahler and Eduard Orendi.

This summer's 10 SoNoRo Conac concerts will take place according to the following program:

Part of the Romania-France Season, the SoNoRo Conac "À la française" tour will bring outstanding French musicians such as violinists Philippe Graffin, Anton Martynov and Nicolas Detricout to Romanian audiences, cellist Bertrand Raynaud and Romanian-born pianist Mara Dobrescu, together with musicians Ioan-Dragoș Dimitriu, piano, Răzvan Popovici, viola, Benedict Klöckner, cello, Petru Iuga, double bass, Răzvan Poptean, clarinet, and Miruna Nagy, harp.

"In the seventh year of SoNoRo Conac, we celebrate both the French influence on our culture through art and architecture, as well as the contribution our country has made to French culture through Romanian-born intellectuals and artists. The Romania-France 2019 season, which includes the SoNoRo Conac "À la française" edition, gives us the opportunity to introduce the Romanian public to outstanding French artists and to shed light on leading French composers of classical music. We invite you to join us on a memorable journey, to immerse yourself in the story of each palace, castle, fortified churches and manor houses, to listen to perhaps the best music ever composed and, thus, to see together, the harmonious side of the intertwining of French and Romanian culture." says musician Răzvan Popovici, initiator of the SoNoRo Conac tour and the SoNoRo Festival.

"From the very beginning, the two commissioners, Romanian and French, considered that the success of the programming of the Romania-France Season depended on the realization of partnerships with those institutions that are already representative in the two countries, at the level of excellence, for their field. We approached festivals, nationally or locally recognized institutions that had the ambition and history of programming Romanian artists in France or French artists in Romania. SoNoRo is one of the most important independent events that succeeds in bringing young audiences and in being successful at national level. This year, Sonoro Conac is dedicated to French culture, and the concerts proposed by the organizers are proof that together we can forget clichés, as the slogan of the Season urges us," said Andrei Tarnea, Commissioner General of the Romania-France 2019 Season.

The first concerts of the Melomaniac summer bring the audience into the heart of rural life in the old Saxon villages of the Haferland area, a region located in Brasov County, between Rupea and Sighisoara. On this occasion, the SoNoRo Conac tour meets SoNoRo Musikland, a festival of chamber music in tune with the beauty of nature, architecture and traditions of the Haferland region. The fortified churches of Criț, Viscri and Meșendorf will offer the public the opportunity to listen to classical music in buildings with fabulous acoustics.

On June 3, SoNoRo Conac and SoNoRo Musikland arrive in Brasov, at the Cercul Militar, one of the city's most architecturally important buildings, built in 1938 according to the plans of architect Constantin Iotzu, combining modern elements with the Romanian 20th century style.

On July 7, lovers of chamber music are invited to Bihor County, in a grand synagogue, the third largest in Europe, the Neolog Synagogue Zion in Oradea. The history of Temple Zion begins in 1878, following the separation of Reform Jews from the Orthodox Jewish community. Busch Dávid, Oradea's chief architect and a member of the Jewish community, designed this eclectic building with Moorish oriental influences and dominated by a huge central dome.

On July 8, SoNoRo Conac comes to the Astra Palace in Sibiu, in the beautiful building that houses the first national public library, ethnographic museum and the first Romanian theater in Transylvania.

The palace, built in 1903, fascinates visitors with its imposing entrance with two atlantic windows, its Victorian festive hall and its impressive collection of old books.

On July 9, the public has the chance to attend a chamber music concert in Bran Castle, one of the most visited castles in the country, with over a million tourists a year. Built in 1377 by local Saxons, Bran Castle became Queen Marie's favorite summer residence in 1920 and in 2009 it was returned to its rightful heirs. This monument of medieval architecture is surrounded by an English park with two ponds and a Tea House.

The last SoNoRo Conac "À la française" concerts included in the Romania-France Season 2019 bring the audience on July 10 to the Cistercian Church of Cârța, in Brașov County and on July 11 to Vila Florica in Stefănești, Argeș County.

Initially built of wood on the initiative of monks, who later turned to stonemasons from France, the Gothic-style church was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Today the Cistercian church houses a museum and is frequented by the local evangelical community.

The Florica villa in Stefănești, where the Brătianu family lived for 10 years, is linked to important historical dates such as the War of Independence of 1877, the Great Union of the Principalities of 1918 and the founding of the National Liberal Party. The mansion was named after Ion C. Brătianu's first daughter, Florica. Today you can visit the mansion, the dendrological park and the chapel.

The end of July brings classical music lovers to the hilly area of Moldavia, to the Petre P. Carp Manor House in Țibănești. The Carp family built the mansion in the early 19th century and over the years a second floor, a terrace, a park and a neo-Gothic mausoleum have been added to the historical and architectural ensemble.

Admission to the SoNoRo Conac concerts is free of charge and is by invitation or reservation, subject to availability, at: rezervari@sonoro.ro or 0741.190.470.

The full program of the concert series and more details about SoNoRo Conac are available at: conac.sonoro.ro

SoNoRo Conac is a project initiated by the Sonoro Association, with the support of its main partner BRD - Groupe Société Générale, with the aim of mediating favorable contexts for the rescue of important monuments of Romanian heritage.

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About SoNoRoRo Conac

In 2013, Sonoro Association started a new project - SoNoRo Conac- which aims, by associating music with emblematic architectural works from Romania, to suggest the need for respect, attention and support for Romania's extraordinary heritage and cultural resources.

SoNoRoRo Conac started from the idea of restoring chamber music to its original, intimate space,

conducive to cultural dialog and active listening by a small audience. This project aims to raise public awareness of the plethora of rehabilitated heritage buildings - fabulous, spectacular, elegant buildings that need to be brought back into the cultural circuit.

SoNoNo Conac is a project initiated by the Sonoro Association, with the support of its main partner BRD - Groupe Société Générale and the Romanian Order of Architects.

Main sponsor: BRD - Groupe Société Générale

Official car offered by: BMW Romania

Partners: Avincis, Illy, Media Image, The Pines

Institutional partners: Order of Architects, National Heritage Institute, ARCHÉ Association

Media partners: RFI România, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Muzical, Marie Claire, Forbes, Capital, Evenimentul Zilei, Igloo, Zeppelin, Arhitectura, Ziarul Metropolis, The Institute, Life.ro, Festivalier.ro, Feeder.ro, Litero-Mania.ro, Designist.ro, Promenada-culturala.ro.

For more information:

Mihaela Tăut

Phone: +40 751 078 078 152

E-mail: mihaela.taut@sonoro.ro