The Radiro festival in the Romanian capital Bucharest is a unique event that brings together radio orchestras from around the world and internationally acclaimed soloists and conductors.
The second edition featured top radio orchestras from Finland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Romania.
One of the most influential conductors of his generation, Cristian Mandeal was the honorary artistic director of this year’s event.
“Radio symphony orchestras around the world are a true force, almost all of them are first rate ensembles. Their specificity resides in their wider approach of a bold, new, sometimes unknown and therefore interesting programme, compared to other symphony or philharmonic orchestras,” he says.
Hosted in the Bucharest Radio Hall, this year’s event celebrated the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss’ birth with 8 concerts.
Two were performed by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Stéphane Denève:
“We come from everywhere and we will group in the concert hall, musicians on stage, audiences in front of them and suddenly we are just one body with many heads and we can celebrate this mystery of music which puts us together, the power of music,” he says.
Organised by Romania’s public radio broadcaster Radio Romania, the event is aimed at highlighting the importance of public radio in bringing classical music to a wide audience.
World-famous violinist Nikolaj Znaider played the second violin concerto of Béla Bartók with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra.
“Music is important to people, it is part of their lives, it is not something they do for entertainment or to have a nice evening out, but it is something meaningful for them, that they actually must have in their lives, and you can sense that in the way they listen, more than anything, in the intensity with which they listen. I think it is very touching,” he says.
A biennial event, the International Radio Orchestras Festival, which attracts several thousand people and is broadcast on radios and televisions around the world, is a chance for radio orchestras from all over the world to show off their repertoire and unique skills.
