George Enescu Philharmonic’s 2026-2027 season brings Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev, Vasily Petrenko, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Christian Tetzlaff to Bucharest

The George Enescu Philharmonic has unveiled the program of its 2026-2027 season, with artists such as Martha Argerich, Mikhail Pletnev, Vasily Petrenko, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Christian Tetzlaff among the headliners.

They will be joined by Andrea Marcon, Michał Nesterowicz, Ariane Matiakh, Julian Rachlin, Javier Perianes, Maxime Pascal, Alexandre Bloch, Axel Kober, Alena Hron, Julia Hagen, Frank Dupree, and David Fray, among others.

Symphonic season opening

The symphonic season opens on October 1 and 2 with two concerts conducted by Mikhail Pletnev, featuring legendary pianist Martha Argerich, who will make her first appearance in the Philharmonic's symphonic season.

The program includes George Enescu's symphonic poem Isis, restored by Pascal Bentoiu in an expanded version featuring the Philharmonic Women's Choir. Argerich will perform Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, one of the signature works in her repertoire. The second part of the evening features Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Suite, presented in an arrangement by Mikhail Pletnev.

Chamber music season opening

Martha Argerich will also inaugurate the chamber music season on September 29 alongside mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and pianist Iddo Bar-Shai. The first half of the program presents works by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, while the second focuses on Romantic repertoire by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

The 2026-2027 season will be held under the banner of the Beethoven Year, marking the 200th anniversary of the composer's death. Throughout 2027, the Philharmonic will place Beethoven's music at the center of its programming, performing the complete symphonies and concertos across the second half of the 2026-2027 season and the first half of the 2027-2028 season.

The upcoming season will see Robert Treviño start his mandate as principal conductor of the Philharmonic. He will conduct the orchestra on March 25 and March 26, 2027, in a program featuring Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Alexander Gavrylyuk as soloist, and Richard Strauss's poem Ein Heldenleben. The performance of Strauss's work will be recorded for the label Ondine Records.

Before the season begins, Treviño will lead the orchestra at the 74th edition of the Ravello Festival in Italy, for an open-air concert on August 26, 2026, featuring works by Enescu and Rachmaninoff.

Guests of the 2026 – 2027 season

The Bucharest public will be able to attend performances featuring conductors Andrea Marcon, Andris Poga, Axel Kober, Asher Fisch, and Pierre Bleuse, pianists Alexandre Kantorow, Olga Kern, David Fray, and Cédric Tiberghien; violinists Christian Tetzlaff, Daishin Kashimoto, and Veronika Eberle; cellist Steven Isserlis; and vocal soloists Léo Vermot-Desroches, Julie Boulianne, Huw Montague Rendall, Jean Teitgen, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Luigi Morassi, Theodore Platt, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Anthea Pichanick, Nicolas Brooymans, Guillaume Andrieux, Bastien Rimondi, Marie-Eve Munger, and Pauline Sabatier.

At the same time, Mikhail Pletnev, Daniel Hope, Leonidas Kavakos, Vasily Petrenko, Christian Zacharias, Julian Rachlin and Boris Giltburg will return to the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum.

The public will be able to see Christian Zacharias, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Frank Dupree, and Javier Perianes in a double role, as both conductors and soloists.

Among the emerging artists that will perform with the Bucharest orchestra in the upcoming season are Edgar and Raphaelle Moreau (France), Alexandre Kantorow (France), Julia Hagen (Austria), Aurélien Pascal (France), Ellinor D'Melon (Cuba), and Christian Li (Australia).

Mihaela Martin, Gabriel Bebeșelea, Tiberiu Soare, Alexandru Tomescu, Valentin Șerban, Ștefan Cazacu, Roxana Constantinescu and Florian Mitrea are among the Romanian musicians set to perform in the upcoming season.

Valentin Șerban will be the Philharmonic’s artist in residence for the 2026-2027 season.

Highlights of the program

Among the season's highlights are the Philharmonic's first modern-era performance of Hector Berlioz's oratorio L'Enfance du Christ in December 2026 and its first-ever presentation of Maurice Ravel's opera L'Enfant et les sortilèges in May 2027.

The program also includes major symphonic works such as Gustav Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7, Richard Strauss's An Alpine Symphony and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4, which will close the symphonic season.

The Philharmonic will also present a commissioned work by Romanian composer Aurelian Băcan and a work by Pascal Bentoiu, performed for the first time at the Athenaeum.

The new passes for the upcoming season will be on sale between August 3 and September 10. Pass renewals can be done by September 25. The tickets for the Symphonic Season go on sale on September 15, while those for the Chamber Music Season go on sale on August 3.

(Photo: Cristian-Tamaș/ George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra)

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