The end of SoNoRo Conac's 10th anniversary tour, "La Grande Belleza", 10th edition

24.06.2022

The end of SoNoRo Conac 's 10thanniversary tour, "La Grande Belleza",10th edition

The tenth edition of the SoNoRo Conac tour, entitled "La Grande Bellezza", ends at the end of June with three concerts in some of the most beautiful mansions and palaces in Romania: Tuesday, June 28, at 17:00 in the Music Hall of the Peléș Palace in Sinaia, Wednesday, June 29, at 19:00 in the Miclescu Mansion in Călinești, Botoșani County and Thursday, June 30, at 19:00 in the Palace of Culture in Iasi .

The concert program includes works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Clara and Robert Schumann, performed by musicians Alissa Margulis (violin), Răzvan Popovici (viola), Răzvan Suma (cello) and Cristiana Mihart (piano).

Access to the concerts is free of charge, by reservation at https://conac.sonoro.ro/.

The works performed were composed at the same time as the emblematic heritage buildings where the concerts will take place - the late 19th and early 20th centuries - were built, a time marked by the heyday of the fine arts. The music will thus bring the decorations of the concert halls to life and transport the audience for a few hours into La Belle Époque. The first concert will take place in the Music Hall of the Peles Palace, built thanks to the cultural concerns of Queen Elisabeth. The hall was decorated with furnishings donated by the Maharajah of Karurtala and hosted the most important musicians of the time. During Queen Mary's reign, the Music Hall would be the place where George Enescu would often perform or find inspiration for study.

We close the SoNoRo Conac X "La Grande Bellezza"anniversary edition with a royal treat, which will be manifested not only in the repertoire chosen for these concerts or the artistry of the performers, but also in the grandeur of each of the concert spaces. We invite the public to a final Conac concert escapade this year, following in the footsteps of Queen Maria of Romania, in the Music Hall of her castle, then in the room she occupied at the Miclescu Mansion, to conclude our journey in the Palace of Culture in Iasi, inaugurated by King Ferdinand and Queen Maria in 1925. This is the end of an emotional itinerary which aimed to highlight those places where Romanian culture was born or flourished under the guidance of those who made cultural patronage their life's mission. Among them were crowned heads, men of culture, but also industrialists or merchants who knew that a country without a strong education and investment in arts and culture is a country without a backbone. We are grateful to them and we feel duty-bound to carry on their legacy, which is what we set out to do since the very first SoNoRo Conac concert. With the support of the public and our partners we will continue for another 10 years to come, because there are still many beautiful places in our country to rediscover through music, says Răzvan Popovici, the initiator and director of the SoNoRo Conac tour.

The second concert in the last part of the tour will take place at the Miclescu Mansion in Călinești, property of the Miclescu family, mentioned by Dimitrie Cantemir as an old Moldavian family, documented since the 15th century.

In 1991, Radu Miclescu, the last descendant of the family, returned to Romania, and in 1996 he regained possession of his family's patrimony and restored the mansion of his childhood. The mansion was restored with the support of architect Șerba Sturdza, Radu Miclescu's nephew, and comprises 11 rooms on the ground floor, 14 rooms upstairs, a reception hall in the central body and two other halls.

The interiors of the building are refurbished with furniture dating from the 18th-19th centuries and representing several styles and cultures: Biedermeier, Napoleon III, Louis Phillippe or Russian Empire. The interior also contains a queen's apartment, and in the right wing of the building there is an apartment where Queen Maria of Romania lived when she was a guest of the manor. The original library contained around 16,000 volumes, including 100 incunabula.

The last concert of the tour is scheduled at the Palace of Culture in Iasi, designed in the spirit of Western European communal palaces. It is a blend of several architectural styles - neo-Gothic, Romanesque and neo-Baroque - and has left a strong mark on the architecture of the old capital of Moldavia. With 298 rooms and 19 years of construction (1906-1925), the Palace of Culture was originally the Palace of Justice and Administration of Iasi. Built according to the plans of architect I.D. Berindey, it was distinguished by its remarkable size: the central tower of the building, which reaches 55 meters high, made the Palace to be considered at the time the tallest building in the city.

The Hall of the Voivodes, which houses the monogram of Queen Marie, is the most beautiful and monumental room in the palace, and is ornamented in a way that sets it apart from the other halls. The palace was officially inaugurated on October 11, 1925, in the presence of the royal family, King Ferdinand and Queen Marie. In 1955, the old Palace of Justice became the Palace of Culture, hosting some of the country's most important cultural institutions, today united under the name of the National Museum Complex "Moldova" Iasi, which includes four museums of national importance: the Museum of History of Moldova, the Museum of Science and Technology "Stefan Procopiu", the Ethnographic Museum of Moldova, the Art Museum and the Center for Research and Conservation-Restoration of Cultural Heritage.

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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 intermediating favorable contexts for the rescue of important monuments of Romanian heritage and to bring to the attention of the public and authorities remarkable Romanian values that have been forgotten.

More details about the concert program and how to reserve a place are available on https://conac.sonoro.ro/

About SoNoRo Conac

Initiated in 2013, the SoNoRo Conac tour aimed from the very beginning, by associating music with various emblematic architectural works in 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. In its nine editions, the SoNoRo Conac tour has put over 100 heritage buildings, some of them completely unknown to the Romanian public, on the emotional map of our country, but it has also drawn the attention of the international public to some of the most beautiful architectural symbols here.

Tour presented by: BRD - Groupe Société Générale

Preferred card: Master card

Main partner: Ministry of Culture

Partner for a better tomorrow: MedLife Medical System

Sponsors: Illy, Casa Boema

Partners: Cărturești, Librăriile Humanitas, Calea Victoriei Foundation, Golden Tulip Ana Dome, Hochmeister Restaurant

Hosts: Sibiu State Philharmonic, Sibiu County Council, Târgu Mureș State Philharmonic, Oradea State Philharmonic, Arad Municipal Culture Center, Arad State Philharmonic, Arad City Hall, Timis County Council, National Art Museum Timisoara, George Enescu Philharmonic, Aurelian Sacerdoțeanu Vâlcea County Museum, Mircea Dinescu Poetry Foundation, Port Cultural Cetate, George Stephănescu Memorial House, AREFU Association, Maria Filotti Theater Brăila, Peles National Museum, Miclescu Mansion - Călinești, "Moldova" National Museum Complex Iasi

Media partners: RFI Romania, Radio Romania Cultural, Radio Romania Muzical, Zile și Nopți, Igloo, Zeppelin, Arhitectura, Ziarul Metropolis, The Institute, Rador, Capital, Evz.ro, Designist.ro, Promenada-culturala.ro, LiterNet.ro, TIMPUL, IQads.ro, Flawless.ro, Aiciastat.ro, Media Image