Although he has not lived in Romania since he was 17, Cristian Măcelaru returns to his native country every time he has the chance, passes his knowledge and love for music to the young generation, brings his family to discover its roots and dreams of a better future for Romanians.

As of this year, Măcelaru is also the man who leads the destiny of the George Enescu International Festival, at least from an artistic point of view. He accepted, as Artistic Director of the Festival, a six-year term for 3 editions (2023, 2025, and 2027) and wants to bring people closer to the beauty of music and culture.

Among the concerts that he conducted during the Festival and those in Paris, he takes every opportunity to be a simple spectator. He can be seen in the concert halls alone or together with his family.

Cristian Măcelaru speaks with warmth and hope about art and the joy he lives through music is seen and felt when he conducts. His joy, is, in fact, contagious.

„It is very important to realize that music alone is not what changes people. Music is the one that brings us together, we are the ones who decide what we do with that gathering.”

Cristian Măcelaru

Two years after the interview in Paris, I met him in the heart of the George Enescu Festival, at the Romanian Athenaeum. In the interview below, he talks about the decisions behind the event, the feelings during concerts, the relationship with music, the norms of society, and, most importantly, about the universe in which we all should bring ideas, information and hope for our children.

***

This year you are the Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival, conductor and also part of the audience, I`ve seen you many times in the concert hall. When do you feel the biggest emotions?

I can honestly say, I don’t have emotions at all. First of all, as a conductor, I have no emotions because I know the quality of the artistic product that the musicians in the orchestra bring, and I am full of energy anticipating and knowing how the audience will react. 

It is not emotion, it is a positive energy that wakes me up each morning because I can’t wait to get to the concert. 

Then, as a spectator, I’m very happy. In fact, this is the first time I can attend several events as a spectator. I’ve been to the festival as part of the audience before, but I’ve attended one or two concerts. 

Now I feel like a kid in a candy store because I choose any concert I want to see, and I meet many musicians I work with. It`s like we`re at a friendly reunion singing to each other.

And that’s just a small side of the festival, actually. These artists who come here intersect with each other and this is how beautiful ideas in art are born.

As an artistic director, I have emotions in the sense that I want to completely reach the end, as I planned, without too many barriers. When you have 3,500 artists from all over the world traveling to the festival, of course, there are problems that arise. There are things we need to rearrange every hour and every day.

By the time you took over this term, in what proportion were the artists contracted and the musical program arranged? 

When I took over as artistic director, I can’t say there was anything confirmed. There were a few things in discussion, natural things, even now we have talks for 2025 and 2027, because great orchestras plan 5-6 years ahead, and I do the same.

And then, there were discussions all the time, but everything was confirmed after I took over.

In terms of the program, does each orchestra choose its repertoire, or does the festival impose what is played, so that there is general coherence in the event for a month?

First of all, let’s think about the history of the festival. In 1958 it’s purpose was to promote Enescu’s music. This was the term of the festival. Since then, it has continued to promote Enescu’s music, but in a more global context.

This year, in the festival, 39 compositions of Enescu are presented and we continue this effort. That’s why we negotiate with all the orchestras that come.

Many orchestras are on a tour of their own, and at the festival, they stop for one or two days.

It is impossible to impose a different repertoire on each orchestra, it is negotiated. But all the orchestras that come to the festival know in advance that they have to interpret a work by Enescu. 

When the orchestras come to the negotiation, they ask „which work of Enescu is not already taken?” For example, I proposed to the Vienna Philarmonic to perform one of Enescu’s suites, and they accepted, then they realized that there was not enough time for rehearsal of the Suite in Romania. And then they integrated Suite No.1 of Enescu, a 30-minute work, in their entire tour. 

I was at the Graffenegg Festival in Vienna and the Vienna Philharmonic played Enescu’s Suite. And this made me so happy because our effort to make the composer George Enescu known to the whole world is beginning to catch strong roots.

Beyond Enescu`s music, did you have any preferences for certain works or composers that you wanted to promote in the program?

Of course. First of all, it is the anniversary year of György Ligeti, a composer born on the Romanian territory, highly appreciated especially in the 20th century, when he lived. That’s why Ligeti’s music has a special role in the festival.

Then, I really want to promote Bartók’s music, because he is another composer that many are afraid to listen to because they don’t know what will discover.

Bartók has long been considered an extraordinary modernist, but I find in his music such a deep and beautiful romance! Even when he is very modern, still he has such a profound element. It’s like when we look in Romanian folklore and see these extraordinary masks, then something like the Merry Cemetery, all the fantastic things. This is Bartók’s music and must be understood in this context.

I promote Bartók’s music everywhere because it speaks so deeply about the culture I come from.

He was born in Sânnicolau Mare, I was born in Timișoara, 20 or so kilometres away, his music comes from the same land I come from. I identify very much with the gestures that Bartók writes in music, that’s why his music is promoted in the festival.

As an audience member, have you been particularly impressed by any concert?

I can say that all of them impress me, because I don’t listen to music in a comparative way, looking for the superlative, but I am interested in the person-person relationship. Music is the language through which artists communicate. But that relationship, human to human, is actually the beautiful thing in art.

Art is such a personal thing that there can’t be a climax that makes you lesser if you don’t reach it.

And then, is each person’s experience during the concert the most important?

Exactly.

And what you bring defines a lot of the success of the concert, not just what the artist brings. The artist always brings something of his own, something personal. But what I bring, so that we can connect in the concert, that’s what the success of the concert depends a lot on.

I can say, from my memories of the last few days, that to see Maestro Zubin Mehta conducting an entire opera at the age of 90, without once looking at the score, doing everything with technical perfection from a conducting point of view, is simply a miracle.

Likewise, Mahler’s 9th Symphony, with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony, was of such beauty and deep feeling! Especially knowing that this is the last time they will play with him as the ensemble’s conductor, there are elements beyond the music that make the concert very special.

It was also quite special what happened at the Tonhalle Orchestra concert in Zurich at the Palace Hall, when despite the Ro Alert alarms, the artists continued to play in an extraordinary way and be above those moments. And at the end, the audience applauded for minutes on end to Dvořák’s 9th Symphony.

Right. I was there. The audience also wanted to show their appreciation for the fact that the artists didn’t stop the concert.

I talked to the orchestra after the concert and they said “unfortunately, we also saw the Ro Alert at half-time, but because it was in Romanian, we didn’t understand what it was and, being in proximity to the war in Ukraine, we didn’t know what was going on, is it a fire alarm, has Romania been invaded?”.

Of course, after the concert, we talked internally to establish a more defined protocol, to let people know how to turn that phone off, so they would stop calling.

It’s to be applauded how the artists reacted to those sounds.

I saw that during the break you went to congratulate Andrei Ioniță. What did you say to him?

Of course, I played with Andrei, he is very appreciated in Romania, he is our hero, a special and extraordinary talent, with a lightness on the instrument that is appreciated by those who know how difficult it is to play the cello. They really know what a talent Andrei is. He is a very great talent and I told him exactly that.

You and your family went to a few concerts. How do the kids feel about the festival?

They love it. Unfortunately, because they started school in Paris, they couldn’t stay to see more of the festival. They like it very much in Romania, they have their favorite places to go, playgrounds or Cărturești, they go there since they were very young.

I also try to teach them a little how to listen, what to look for and I enjoy it when they ask me questions. In Germany, when I did The Woodcarved Prince, I did it with the subtitles of the story. It’s a ballet with a story behind it, in which Bartók wrote the music in such a way that Wagner did in his operas. There are musical brassy motifs that coincide with certain important words in the story.

And when the children came here, they were afraid that without subtitles they wouldn’t understand the story. And we made a video where we explained those musical motifs for them to recognize, we watched the video together, told them the story one more time and that’s how they came to the concert.

It is very necessary that parents who bring their children to the concert take 5-10 minutes beforehand, I make this effort like any parent. Depending on how you introduce the kids to the concert, to a work, their experience will be very different.

That’s what interests me most, that people discover the same beauty at the concert that I do.

A little knowledge helps you understand music and listen to it differently, so you’ll have a deeper, more beautiful perspective.

In fact, for me, that’s the difference between art and entertainment. In art you have to bring something of yourself to discover beauty. In entertainment you don’t need anything at all except a ticket.

In art, the more you bring in, the wider the universe you discover.

When you took over as artistic director, you said that you wanted very much to open the Enescu Festival to children and young audiences. You have included in the programme a series, for the first time, for children, which is sold out. Do you feel you have achieved what you set out to do?

It’s a successful first step, I say. I will continue to do more in this direction. Maybe some people say “ah, what a good idea, so that in 20-30 years we have a new generation coming to the festival”. Yes, that’s true, but my main interest is that these children and young people who come to the concerts discover culture, discover their relationship with art.

You don’t learn culture from a textbook in school. You don’t learn it by reading about it. Culture is absorbed when you don’t realize you’re absorbing culture. Culture takes time and effort, not just personal effort.

We must provide possibilities and opportunities for these children of ours to be exposed to culture and art. There is a space in society, a universe that is filling up with information, with ideas. If we don’t put ideas and information into that space, someone else will gladly do it.

We need to fill the universe with something good, from which children take what they want. The moment we have a presence in that space, maybe they will take culture.

To what extent do you think art should be related to what is happening in society? It was moving when you dedicated the Second Rhapsody to the victims of the Crevedia explosion and linked the work to the idea of healing. It took on a new meaning.

Music has always been, in fact, the thing that has accompanied everything we have done as humans. The beginning of organized music was to bring people together. Whether it was at a funeral, whether it was at a wedding, whether it was at a natural phenomenon, music has always had that purpose, to bring people together. Then, we are the ones who give the purpose of our gathering.

It’s very important to realize that music alone is not what transforms people. It’s the music that brings us together, it’s we who decide what we do with that gathering. Because there is so much power in 2000-3000 people coming together and listening to the same thing. There is a spiritual power in the universe.

And what we do with that power in the universe can lead to good or it can lead to evil.

It is important to reintroduce music as a catalyst for good. The idea of healing through music is as old as the universe. We need that soul-soothing.

And music like Enescu’s Second Rhapsody was put in a special context and everyone in the hall heard it in a different way than they had heard it before. One thought of 4000 people towards the same thing transforms a universe.

To what extent does clothing still matter at these events nowadays? There is still the impression, at times, that the Enescu Festival is a stiff event, where you have to go dressed up elegantly. I know that your view is a bit different, in the sense that you don’t consider the attire being a prerequisite for attending such a concert.

Elegance itself is up to each individual. I’ve seen people in jeans who are very elegant, and I’ve seen people in suits who are not elegant.

It’s not the clothing itself that gives a person elegance, but elegance comes from within.

For me it doesn’t matter how people are dressed, but there must be a special feeling, an internal elegance when you are face to face with Enescu, Mahler or Beethoven. There has to be a reverence for these geniuses. Not for musicians, not for conductors, but for composers. For me, the composer is the complete genius.

And when I go to concerts in jeans and when I go in a suit, I bring a reverence through internal elegance, which I think is necessary.

For those who only stop at clothes, that’s their understanding, but I hope they can get away from this idea that you have to be dressed a certain way. Reverence is something that has to come from inside, because if it’s not from inside, it’s a false thing and it’s not good.

At what stage are you with the project you have with the French National Orchestra to record the complete operas of Enescu?

We finished recording the first three symphonies and the two rhapsodies, we spent almost 4 weeks, a lot of work. Next comes studio sound editing. And probably next year the records will come out.

Did you feel that you brought the French National Orchestra closer to Enescu with this project?

Yes. And I would say Enescu closer to the French National Orchestra. I don’t know any musician who hasn’t discovered Enescu’s music, who hasn’t been overwhelmed by the beauty, the extraordinary universe that Enescu offers.

Because he is so complex, Enescu requires more than other composers. That’s why there are so many people who haven’t discovered Enescu yet. They’ve heard him, but they haven’t discovered him.

When and how did you discover Enescu?

I discovered him playing his music. And I’ve been obsessed with his music ever since. Enescu must be studied, discovered and understood

In the interview we did together in Paris two years ago, you talked about how important a concert hall would be for Romania. Has there been any progress in discussions with the Romanian authorities on this matter since you became the festival director?

What I can say is that I still haven’t found a person in the government or outside who disagrees with the idea that we need to do something. Everybody has said “oh, it’s necessary.” For 30 years it’s been necessary. But what we haven’t found is a coalition of all the people who need to make the clear decisions.

We did our part, Artexim, Mr Mihai Constantinescu who has been fighting for this for 30 years. They have made a project, but it is not green lit until the end.

Honestly, I can’t even say that there’s a specific person who hasn’t given his consent. No.

It’s such a volatile system, it changes so often, it’s kind of absurd. A project of this magnitude needs continuity. A concert hall can be built in 2-3 years.

But why do you think it doesn’t happen? What is missing?

In my experience, people who have been persuaded and want to do this simply change their position. And then you have to start over with the next guy. The battle has to start from scratch.

I think since you’ve been in talks to take over as director, you have already changed three Ministers of Culture.

Three, that’s right. Not to mention Mr. Mihai Constantinescu, in 33 years he went through about 40 ministers. But it’s not just about ministers, it’s about a system.

A train conductor, no matter how much he wants to go forward, if every person and every screw in that train is not put in the right place, the train will not leave the station.

The post Cristian Măcelaru: „In art, you must bring something from yourself to discover beauty. In entertainment, you don’t need anything, just a ticket.” appeared first on Cultura la dubă.

RO

20 years ago, the great German conductor Kurt Masur, while he was the musical director of the French National Orchestra, was naming as head of the orchestra a young lady violinist, of only 21 years old.

Sarah Nemțanu thus became the youngest concert master in the history of the National French Orchestra, a position she still occupies today.

100% French on paper, Sarah bears a Romanian name – Nemțanu – and has a Romanian-beating heart especially when she visits Romania.

“The first time I came to Romania and I heard people speaking Romanian, I thought everyone was my cousin. (laughing) It was like all the family was there, that was my feeling. I felt home.”

Her story is not only one of an accomplished musician, who has conquered the world’s greatest stages, but also a testimony of a universal Europe, in which millions of families break, in need, from their homes and grow roots in other places, that adopt them and give them wings.

Vladimir Nemțanu, born in Bucharest into a Jewish family, was a concert master in the George Enescu Philharmonic, and his wife had just graduated from canto at the Conservatory when they decided to flee communist Romania, that was under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship.

They took advantage of The Most Favored Nation Clause, through which Ceaușescu allowed Romanian Jews to emigrate to Israel and The United States of America, and left for Israel themselves.

After a few months spent there, the two young Romanians were getting a chance in France. He got the position of concert master of the Bordeaux National Orchestra and she was hired at the Bordeaux Opera.

“When they got to France, they started a new life. They had nothing, they lived in a hotel for a while, until they rented an apartment. It really was starting from 0.

There were a few Romanians in the Bordeaux orchestra, there already was a cultural connection between Romania and France. And in the ’70’s, a lot of regional orchestras appeared. There were not so many French musicians, so they were completed by Romanian musicians.

Even to this day, the Romanian musicians communities in European orchestras are impressive. But especially in France, because there is this cultural friendship, there have been so many extraordinary Romanian artists who created in France, such as Ionesco, Enescu, Brâncuși.”

“It is the Latin side that binds Romania to France, our atoms intertwine.”

A year and a half after settling in Bordeaux, Sarah was born into the Nemțanu family.

“I’m the oldest of three children and first learned to speak Romanian at home. Then, when I went to school, French became my first language.

But I would say that until about the age of 12, at home I would speak Romanian. Especially when my grandparents were visiting, about a month every year, we would only speak Romanian. Also, my parents’ entourage was formed exclusively of Romanians.”

Although she was fairly young, Sarah vividly recalls her first visit to Romania.

“I went to Romania with my mother and sister when I was six, I have memories, but they are not nice. It was around 1987, my mother already had a French passport, but she was afraid that they wouldn’t let her get back to France, at the airport.

My memory is of my mother crying in panic. She was questioned: why are you married to a Jew? Why are you living in France and not here? I remember all the questions, it was something very violent for me.

Then, I remember it being cold, winter, a lot of snow. The only pleasant memory is riding the sleigh with my grandfather in Bucharest. That was cool!”

She pronounces the word “sleigh” (săniuță) perfectly in Romanian. More so, even though when we started the interview she said that she will be speaking French, because she does not manage speaking Romanian so well, Sarah mostly answers in the language that her parents taught her when she was a child.

As a child, information about Romania was vague, as it would have been for any other child to understand why her parents had to flee their own country.

“I have this memory of being in the car when Ceaușescu was executed, my mother stopped, turned up the volume and stood still. I knew that they had fled Romania because it was not good, but I didn’t understand why.

On the other hand, I was aware that they were happy in France, with a double culture, that they passed on to us, their children.”

Sarah and Deborah, her sister, took on their father’s passion for violin, while their brother became a jurist.

While Sarah leads the National French Orchestra, as a prime violinist, Deborah Nemțanu is, as well, concert master of the National Chamber Orchestra in Paris.

“I implored my father to teach me violin. He was very passionate, he would study a lot, and when we heard him play, we would run to him.

To me, the violin is like a voice. I’m trying to say something through music, through a universal language, without precise words. And people understand what it wants.

I can’t remember wanting to do anything else.

“The most wonderful thing that our father passed on was to be independent, self-critics, knowing on our own whether what we’re doing is right or not, listen to ourselves, without anyone else telling us that we were off-key.”

From 16, Sarah moved by herself in Paris, where she graduated from the Conservatory. And recently she was made a violin teacher at the prestigious school. She enjoys teaching the youth and says that she got this gift and this joy from her father.

She was also a violin teacher for Melanie Laurent, the actress, for the film Le Concert, directed by Radu Mihăileanu.

Sarah Nemțanu is the one playing the music in the film – Tchaikovsky’s concert for violin and orchestra – and had enormous success, along with the film. Le Monde were saying at the time: “Sarah Nemțanu, the true violinist from The Concert”.

“Radu is very precise, he knows exactly what he wants and what I loved was that he made the entire final scene of the film on the timed rhythm of Tchaikovsky’s concert, he first played the music and built the script based on the musicality of the work.

I had never seen that. Usually, in films, they add the music after the shoot.”

As a head of orchestra, she works directly with Christian Măcelaru, the Romanian musical director of the French National Orchestra. He believes her to be one of the finest violinists of the world, who could easily transition to a solo carrier.

But Sarah loves working in an orchestra and can not see herself doing anything else.

“I knew that I wanted to be a concert master. In my mind, I could’t see myself playing alone. My father was a concert master. When I finished school, I loved going to rehearsals when I knew that the orchestra was also there.

My life philosophy is that we all form a chain in which each is a link, we are very different, but only together we can form this chain.

When we will accept that each has his own personality, then everything will be alright. The main priority is the common good, that of the orchestra.

And I love the orchestra, I love the orchestra repertoire, and it shows and my colleagues see it.

I am both head of the orchestra, and part of it, I’m a crossroad that creates connections and this is owed mainly to my education.”

I ask her how many Romanians there are at the moment in the French National Orchestra and she effortlessly answers:

“- Oana, Teodor, Eduard, so 1,2,3,4.

– 3.

– 4, counting me.

– Do you count yourself?

– Of course. (laughs)”

With a Romanian conductor at the helm and a Romanian-born concert master, the French National Orchestra took on an important project, dedicated to the great Romanian composer George Enescu.

The entire work of Enescu will be recorded during the next 10 years at the prestigious record label Deutsche Grammophon.

“In Enescu’s music you can find images from his childhood, birds singing, a violinist playing on the street.

I believe that George Enescu wrote so that he would never forget his memories and did it in the smallest details regarding folklore.

It is, obviously, also classical composing, savant music. But in his music there is always this transparent veil of folklore, which he managed to integrate.

Romania is making all these great efforts to be a European country in all aspects and I believe that the artists are te first that succeed, artists are the first creating connections between countries. Enescu did this perfectly.

In his music there is a lot of freedom, but it is in a special frame, a deeply personal one. This is truly special at Enescu. And that is how I see freedom. We are free on this Earth, but we are also limited on this planet.”

Last year, Sarah Nemțanu opened the International George Enescu Festival, along with the George Enescu Philharmonic, which her father had led, 44 years prior, as a concert master.

And as of this year, Cristian Măcaleru took the helms of the festival as the artistic director. They both wish for a refreshing of the event, but also more attention to young Romanian musicians.

“The Enescu festival is truly impressive. What I find to be a shame is that there is but one such festival in Romania.”

“All the funding goes to one place. I wouldn’t see a single event once every two years and then nothing. And, as we mentioned the youth, if there were larger investments in the system, I would like to see professors from all over Europe teaching in Romania.

Sure, there is the Enescu Contest, but the stakes there are a prize. Who is helping the young artists for the rest of the year, who is teaching them?

At the Enescu Festival I’ve met wonderful young people, volunteers, staff. The youth want to learn, they are fascinated by the European educational system.

Unfortunately, there are many leaving. The best of the youth are leaving Romania.

Here is where I believe that the Enescu Festival with Cristian Măcelaru as an artistic director will bring changes.

It is an enormous hope. It is something I feel.”

Sarah lives in one of the most bohemian neighborhoods in Paris – Montmartre. She walks daily, on her way home, on the wavy streets that were once walked by the great European artists – Monet, Manet, Renoir, Picasso or Van Gogh, and is at home in the vivid atmosphere of the place filled with tourists, right next to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral.

She is the mother of two, a wife and an artist who enjoys live through everything she does. She loves cooking, jogging with her husband and traveling. She lives a typical Parisian life, but equally loves each of her trips to Romania, which she sees as a fundamental part of her identity.

“I’ve went to Romania each of the last 6 years and every time I felt like home. It is something that cannot be explained, can only be felt.

I feel like home, I even took Georges there, my son.

Romania is at a European crossroad, it is a unique country through the fact that it is Latin in the east, and this gives it a special identity and in the same time it is a country of adaptability.

That is why I think many artists leave the country and are very evolved culturally.

And if we were to mention musical particularities, I think that the Romanian style has a certain elegance, something that my father absorbed and passed on.”

Sarah Nemțanu is the result of a family of Romanian migrants in France, in the same way as thousands of children are born in Romanian families overseas, and take on different paths than what their lives would have been, would their parents have stayed in Romania.

Art, in this case, has fundamentally contributed to the conservation of a cultural identity that Romanians carried along in their adoptive countries.

In a world where foul history repeats itself and millions of families are forced to flee from war or dictatorial regimes, Sarah is a believer in the good in everyone, and the power to bring a little light around us, be it through art, or through simple gestures.

“I believe that when you do good and are positive, there is an effect around you. For example, I have some friends that are constantly complaining about Paris taxi drivers, that they’re bad, this and that. I often take a taxi after concerts and I only meet wonderful taxi drivers, really nice.

Once I had a taxi driver that had came to see me at a concert. He was 50 years old and he listened to classical music on the radio, he had just enrolled in music school, to learn an instrument. I invited him to a concert, he came, waited for me at the end and cried.

To me, this is real life. If you do good, keep a positive attitude and don’t let all the negativity in the world influence you, than everything will be better.

***This story is part of the “France Week” series, a Cultura la Dubă project supported by BNP Paribas.

The post Sarah Nemțanu, outstanding French violinist, born from Romanian parents: “To me, the violin is like a voice. “ appeared first on Cultura la dubă.

Versiunea în ROMÂNĂ

“Welcome, Maestro!”

On the 24th of September 2020, Cristian Măcelaru held his first concert as a musical director of The French National Orchestra and was greeted with a welcome message written in romanian.

He reached that position after a democratic vote of the musicians in the orchestra, as rarely happens in the world of classical music. Thus, he was a conductor wanted by the members of the orchestra, not imposed upon them.

At the same time, Cristian Măcelaru is main conductor of the Köln Symphonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester, where his contract has been extended until 2025.

Apart from talent, his atypical philosophy regarding working with orchestras has made him stand out among the other conductors. He is playful and open to listen to questions and proposals from his musician collaborators. He does not impose himself through a tough attitude, but he earns the respect and sympathy of the orchestra through the respect that he shows, in his turn, to others.

“Music is made in an intimacy where it is necessary to have a spiritual connection.”

“Perhaps it was necessary in the 20th century that a conductor be severe, authoritarian, such as Celibidache was. But in Celibidache’s orchestra there wasn’t any woman. I could never do that because I respect the people that I work with and I depend on them to give me their best, not to spite me.”

“A concert where musicians play out of fear, to me, is worthless.

Cristian Măcelaru’s story begins in Timișoara, in a family of 10 children, him being the youngest.

“My father was a Mold Technician in a factory in Timișoara and refused to be a member of the Socialist Party, he was also very much involved with the church and didn’t accept telling on the others in church. The Secret Police would summon him weekly and he never accepted collaborating with them. He went through this horror his whole life, but he found a way to be happy – music.”

Through his passion for music, his father formed a church orchestra and guided each child to an instrument. The whole Măcelaru family played instruments, from children to cousins, but not all of them pursued a musical career.

“My father worked around the clock, you can imagine, for 10 children! Countless times he would come home tired, at 10 or 11 in the evening and the first thing he would ask was: have all the children studied today?”

“The one who hadn’t studied had to do it in front of my father. And he would sit and listen until he fell asleep on the chair. He knew that what you discover through music, nobody can take away. That’s the essence of my happiness, it’s not the career, it’s music.”

He is now profoundly grateful to his father for insisting that he studied the violin, the instrument that made him stand out at the start of his career.

In his turn, as a father, he tries to infuse his children with a love for art, whether it’s music, drawing or literature. His daughter, 8, plays the violin and his boy, 10, plays the piano. In every city they visit together, he takes them to museums and opens their eyes to the beauty of the world.

“A parent’s responsibility is not only to send your child to a good school. It is also to teach them to be curious.”

“I would encourage all parents to guide their children toward studying a musical instrument. I have never met a person who had learned to play a musical instrument and after 10 years say: I regret studying the piano!

On the contrary, I meet people every day telling me: I wish that my parents would have made me study more.”

His love for music, his talent, his hard work, but also chance have brought Cristian Măcelaru to where he is today.

When he was just 17, he met a family of americans that were in Timișoara to adopt a romainan child, and teen Cristi offered to show them around town. He even invited them to one of his concerts and they suggested that he went to a summer school in The US.

That’s how he ended up in Michigan and started the adventure that would change his life. Instead of enrolling in summer school, young Cristi accidentally filled out a form to enlist in a local high school. He later found out that he had received a study scholarship and, along with his family, decided to remain there.

As a violin player, he became the youngest concertmaster in the history of The Miami Symphony Orchestra, where he made his debut at Carnegie Hall at only 19.

But his greatest wish was to conduct. And his dream came true.

Cristian Măcelaru welcomed us in the impressive concert hall of Radio France, while recording a concert of the french composer Camille Saint – Saëns, with The French National Orchestra.

The slightest sound was not permitted during recording, but the breaks were full of jokes and smiles, unwinding the members of the orchestra.

The orchestra director said that on the stage he is 100% the same as he is in his free time and is not afraid that it will undermine his authority, on the contrary, it helps.

“Why did I make jokes today? Because what they had to play was so difficult and delicate, I helped them relax, so they played their best. Yesterday I didn’t make any jokes, it wasn’t necessary. (he smiles)”

He was supposed to take over The French National Orchestra in september 2021, but he did it a year earlier after his predecessor resigned. Then, the pandemic special context also changed the part he was going to play in Paris.

In the midst of last year’s crisis, musicians from The French Orchestra were allowed to retire sooner, at only 61. 30 of them chose retirement, and now the positions had to be filled by new musicians, which meant a reconstruction of the orchestra.

“It’s an opportunity for me, to leave my mark on the orchestra, but also for the orchestra, to have a younger feel.”

“The transition is very difficult. Out of a musical director’s duties, about 40% is conducting. Other than that, I’m responsible for every invited conductor, I chose the soloists, the entire repertoire, now it’s the case that I have to fill 30 positions in the orchestra. And every musician takes 3-4 days of auditions.”

The contests for the positions start with an eliminatory anonymous audition, where the contestants are listened to by the jury from behind the curtain. Behind Cristian Măcelaru, the second leader of the orchestra is concertmaster Sarah Nemțanu, the french violinist with romanian origins.

“There’s not an orchestra that I have conducted without some Romanians in it. Without them being some of the most respected.”

“We’ve got our first violin with her parents from Romania, now a girl just won the contest for a violin position, she’s born in Paris, but both her parents are from Romania. A boy who won the contest for the piccolo is from Romania, born in Târgu-Mureș, the second violin from the second line, a musician from Romania just retired, number 3 at viola is also from Romania.

There are talented people, dedicated, hard working. And Romania shouldn’t be proud of them, it should learn from them. That we have a majority that brings us fame, not a minority that brings us shame.”

When it comes to Romania, in the conductor’s speech you can sense both the attachment to “home”, as well as the bitter taste of the impossibility of doing something for his native country. A member of the European Union that unfortunately, follows dusty laws that slows it’s evolution.

“I say this with sadness: even if I wanted to return to Romania, to have a position similar to the one in Paris, I would not be allowed to!

There are so many imposed rules, that maybe 50 years ago made sense, but now are so absurde.”

“10 years ago, when I was assistant conductor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, I wanted to apply as a director at an orchestra from Romania. My dossier was rejected because I didn’t have a baccalaureate degree from Romania. I left when I was in high school, I haven’t equiveled my studies in Romania, I didn’t study in the Conservatory in Romania, I didn’t get my master’s degree in Romania, that , anyway, can be bought or passed through easily.

I had my master’s degree in The United States, at Rice University in Houston, where I would go to class daily, where I truly studied. When I occupied the position here, nobody asked me where I went to high school, what my diploma was. No. Everything was according to artistic merits.

That’s why at The George Enescu Philharmonic there are countless empty positions, there are absurd conditions. That’s the death of an orchestra. It’s a huge possibility for an orchestra to refresh itself, but if you don’t fill those positions, it’s death, it’s not a rebirth.”

Regardless, he comes back as a conductor every time he is invited to Romania and wishes to give back to his home country some of what he has learned abroad.

“Perhaps if I weren’t a musician, I would have been involved somehow in the romanian political scene, to try to make a change.”

“It’s very important that those who left Romania find a balance between criticizing and giving back. In the last 6-7 years, I’ve had a concert in Romania at least every two months. Do you think that I went to Bucharest to make money? Do you think  I went to Bucharest for the prestige? No.

I went for a single reason. I didn’t want to reach the end of my career and have someone tell me: maestro, why didn’t you do more? It’s simple. A forest doesn’t grow overnight. Someone must plant the seeds, water the ground, then wait years for the tree to grow. You have to do that to each tree, until there is a forest.”

“I come back to Romania oftenly because I can’t imagine keeping to myself what I have received. I can’t live in a world like that. Actually, Enescu says: in music or literature, something becomes your own only when you have given it to someone else.”

In fact, Enescu, a name that has left its mark on the history of classical music, continues to enrich Romania’s image in the world. The George Enescu International Festival is regarded as one of the most important cultural events in the world, according to the musical director of The French National Orchestra.

“People can’t conceive that this is what is actually happening: 3-4 concerts per day with the world’s greatest orchestras and greatest musicians and it’s happening in Bucharest! Not Vienna, Berlin, no. We’re talking about Bucharest.”

“The Enescu Festival in Bucharest is a real wonder.”

A wonder that deserves a concert hall to match. Unfortunately, the great orchestras invited to the Enescu Festival are playing at the Palace Hall, the former congress hall of the Romanian Communist Party. It is one of the pains felt by Cristian Măcelaru, whose name is mentioned to take over the management of the George Enescu Festival.

“What bothers me is that it hasn’t been understood that the benefits of a concert hall in Bucharest would not be only for those coming to the concert, but it would transform a whole city.

Look at what is happening at Elbphilharmonie, in Hamburg. There are millions of people travelling to Hamburg for that concert hall.

Just like The Eiffel Tower is built in Paris. Is the Eiffel Tower necessary? What is the Eiffel Tower good for? It defined not a city, but a whole nation. You can’t separate France from the Eiffel Tower.”

To us, a concert hall in Bucharest would define Romania. The benefits are not only cultural, there would be enormous private benefits. I still hope that this will happen in Bucharest. I hope it happens now. I want it to happen now!”

We wrap the interview at almost 10 p.m. After a work day started at 9 a.m. the maestro leads us into his personal cabin. That’s where we see his baton.

“I love this baton because it is very light. There’s nothing special about it, I bought it for about 20 euros in Japan, I have a set of 5 similar. But I never had to replace it, I’ve been using it for about 15 years.”

He packs his things and puts his backpack on, leaving like a regular person, tired at the end of a day’s work.

In an Airbnb apartment his wife and two children wait for him. He’s normally in Paris for only two weeks per month and is living in a hotel next to Radio France, but this time, given that he’s staying for a month with his family, he rented an apartment. They’re settled in Germany for now, that’s where the kids go to school, but he plans to move to Paris in a year.

He believes that destiny is “the gift that is given to us in order to handle what we’re facing” and that his blessing is to enjoy every moment of playing music.

“If I were to plan my career, I wouldn’t have done it so beautifully. The circumstances were such that everywhere, the exact right door opened.”

“I played concerts where there were more of us on the stage than there were people in the audience. I played that concert with the same passion as if there was a full house. Every chance to give your best is a chance to touch someone. And many of the doors that were open for me had to do with somebody being in the right place at the right time.”

At only 41, Cristian Măcelaru leads one of the world’s greatest orchestras and is the 3rd romanian winner of a Grammy award, following the conductor Christian Badea and the jazz piano player Marian Petrescu.

“I don’t find happiness in what is happening to me, I find it in what I do, because that’s the only way that I can be in control of my happiness.”

“I tell my students: if conducting is what fulfills you, quit conducting, because you will always be disappointed. There will always be a better conductor, a more successful one, more respected.

I try to find fulfillment in music, because music will never betray me.

If I search for it in a Beethoven piece, in the beauty of a Saint – Saëns work, that is where I find happiness and fulfillment, not in what comes back to me from conducting.

Conducting is my way of expression to the world, but what keeps me going is music, that’s what nobody can take away.”

***This story is part of the “France Week” series, a Cultura la Dubă project supported by BNP Paribas.

The post Cristian Măcelaru, the Romanian conductor who is rebuilding The French National Orchestra: “The essence of my happiness is music.” appeared first on Cultura la dubă.

He has won numerous international contests, including a scholarship at the famous Royal Concertgebow in Amsterdam.

This fall he was named main conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic, in the same time being the main conductor at the “Transilvania” State Philharmonic in Cluj-Napoca. His career began shining as far back as 2011, when he was named main conductor of The iași Opera, becoming the youngest head of orchestra to occupy such a position in Romania.

He has conducted important orchestras, such as Rundfunk Sinfinieorchester in Berlin, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, The Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic, The Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra or Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

In Romania he gained the title of doctor in music at the age of 31, summa cum laude.

He lives in Vienna, but he wishes to give back to Romania what he has learned overseas.

The passion with which he speaks about music is contagious, and his youth can be a breath of fresh air in a field widely regarded as “old”.

Where does your passion for classical music and conducting come from? How did it all start?

I was fortunate to be born into a family in which classical music was very important. Both of my parents have studied music, my father is a music professor, my uncle a cello player, my aunt is a pianist, so a family of musicians.

So, even before I was born, I believe, my road had been paved in this direction, even though my parents didn’t necessarily encourage me to chose this. I was free to chose whatever profession I wanted.

Only, surrounding myself by the world of music, I felt more attracted to this.

Did you first start by studying a certain instrument or were you attracted to conducting?

“There’s an anecdote that my mother told, that when I was a small child, around the age of 3, I was conducting the records played by my parents using knitting needles.”

Gabriel Bebeșelea, conductor

But I first studied the violin, from the age of 7, for 12 years, I’ve also studied piano, but then I concentrated on the path of conducting.

Why did you chose this path?

If I think about that anecdote, I believe this path chose me.

It was something that attracted me for a long time, I was very interested by composition, conducting, by 11-12 years old I had already started reading many treaties, books in this direction.

I was very interested by what happens inside the musical phenomena and more than being inside like this, I don’t believe there is a way.

It was somehow a natural step to directing.

Could you point out a moment in your career when you took steps abroad, when you stood out overseas?

It wasn’t a single moment. I consider myself lucky for having a lot of professors.

In Romania I studied with the master Petre Sbârcea and the master Horia Andreescu, after that, outside the country I had a scholarship at Royal Concertgebouw, where I saw all the great conductors. And this changed me radically, because seeing great conductors work day by day is something absolutely fantastic.

Could you give us some examples, conductors whom you saw working during these studies in Amsterdam?

I was very much influenced by Mariss Jansons. He was the chief conductor of the orchestra and I was fortunate to watch him many times during rehearsals.

But, actually, what was more interesting was that week by week, I would learn something new, absorb something new, information that ended up being useful to me in the music that I made down the line.

Some I only observed rehearsing, and with others I was fortunate to work actively.

Then, one of the conductors that have influenced me a great deal was Bernard Haitink, with whom I also worked.

Seeing a great conductor daily, one can only model one’s self and become better, because such musical colossuses simply transmit the energy and desire to make better music.

Did it matter, in any way, the fact that you are a Romanian? Perhaps coming from a country that has produced many important conductors?

It didn’t matter neither in a positive way, nor in a negative way. But, truly, it is highly important to have a basis, a culture, not only musically.

The conductor must be highly engaged in anything regarding art, conducting doesn’t mean only music and getting a composer’s message across. This message can be better transmitted, the richer life experience you have.

What else makes a conductor complete?

I tend to believe that the role of the conductor isn’t that of dictating the interpretations, but that to inspire.

That of doing a very complex analysis of the composition, of discovering the key in which that message can be transmitted to the public.

It’s a rather complex path, if we think about it.

“The conductor converts the musical score into sound, in his head, and the, together with the orchestra, plans the interpretation so that everything reflects towards the audience.”

So, I think it’s more an exchange of energy.

I believe in the inspirational role of the conductor, not that of dictation and convincing by force.

Regarding musical studies, do you think it is essential for a young musician to have access to international education, in order to evolve?

Absolutely. And not only regarding conducting. I would advise everyone to travel as much as possible, to see as many systems, not only educational, to observe as many aspects as possible, to absorb more.

This could lead to the improvement of the system, not only educational, in Romania. And regarding a musician, a musician that doesn’t travel, cannot be up to date, does not have access to all the information.

A musician that does not travel, doesn’t have terms of comparison. Without these terms of comparison, it’s difficult, if not impossible to persevere.

Then, how important does the financial aspect become in the development of a musical career?

It is and it is not. There are many scholarships, many possibilities. Anytime a young conductor asks me what to do, I point him toward those scholarships, the ones I had access to.

I was fortunate to be able to apply to some grants and thus get to follow these conductors, to watch them, to ask the, to get modeled by.

Could you describe your vision as a conductor? How would you like the concerts you conduct to be like?

Firstly, the composer’s message is the most important. But, during this pandemic, I have reflected on our role as musicians. Why do we do this?

Especially as this is the only period in time in which concert halls have been closed. Even during world wars they were not closed, because they were comforting the spirit of people affected by the war.

An I have arrived at the conclusion that, in fact, we are the ones who should create a sanctuary for the concert going audience.

I believe that the audience comes to the concert hall to isolate themselves from the mundane. And then, the more responsible and honest our interpretation, the more it’s based on musical analysis, the more we succeed in creating this sanctuary.

There is this misconception that classical music is especially appreciated by the elderly. Are you thinking about the repertoire that you will chose at the George Enescu Philharmonic to attract the youth?

I’m not a believer in hook works. There’s an expression in The United States – crowd pleasers – meaning these well known works, that if they are in the poster, the concert is sold out.

I believe this is a cheap and easy recipe. On a short term it can bring audience, but on the long run it doesn’t create anything but a chain of weakness – you’ll end up doing only crowd pleasers.

I believe in something else. I believe in conceptualization. I believe in the concept-concert, in the whole story behind the concert and I think that if the work is well bound, regardless of it’s genre, it’s style the composer or the period it was made in, these can attract young audience, but it’s important that the message of the concert is directed toward this.

Is there a migration phenomenon in the musical field, one of musicians leaving the country, to join bigger orchestras? For example, at the Enescu Festival, in almost all of the invited orchestras there are Romanian musicians, some even heads of orchestra.

Yes, such as at Royal Concertgebouw, Liviu Prunaru is a concertmaster. A lot of the orchestras all over the world have Romanian musicians. This only cements what I said earlier – musicians travel.

Their mobility is an absolutely natural and necessary aspect. Because their development depends on this journey.

But do you think that Romania has got a problem in keeping it’s talented youth? That it doesn’t offer enough financial and professional support?

This is where I wanted to get to.

“There’s an exodus of Romanian musicians, not just a mobility. That is absolutely necessary, but here, things are happening at an accelerated pace. Because here, culture is highly underfinanced.”

It is extraordinarily and painfully underfinanced.

We can talk about the greatest orchestras in Romania, they will never compare, financially, to the orchestras of Hungary, let’s say. They can not become competitive in this regard.

The artists’ international circuit reaches Romania through The Enescu Festival, that has an immense contribution.

And as to the artists, the critical aspect, this is also a problem of the educational system, that in numerous ways has, and I’m sorry to say this, many flaws.

And it’s a key point, upon which I would insist, because all of these musicians have left Romania during their studies.

They have left to perfect their art and have found an artistic direction. Then, it is difficult to return to Romania, where the educational system is underfinanced, culture is underfinanced.

And the, what keeps you, a young conductor, motivated to conduct two Romanian orchestras, especially given that you are living in Vienna.

I am very much preoccupied as to what is happening in Romania, because this is where I started my studies.

I think that it is important that those who managed to study abroad, to bring something back to Romania. And I’m not the only one. There are a lot of Romanian conductors having a career abroad and returning with love. And o lot of players, but not to work in an orchestra.

I hope that Romania will reach the point of attracting young musicians back, after their forming in prestigious universities abroad.

Do you think that Romania also has a problem regarding the infrastructure of the concert halls?

To say the least.

“It is very painful that Romania hasn’t built a concert hall from start to finish, after the second World War”

All of the halls have been built for something else and then transformed, or there were changes brought to cinemas.

Romania has not built a hall and I say this with great pain – it is the only country in the area that has managed this counter-performance.

There are countries that are not part of The European Union that have built concert halls to respect their own culture and to respect their guests.

In fact, the instrument of an orchestra is the hall. Without a good hall, it doesn’t matter if they play very well, they will never reach their full potential.

And The Palace Hall has got only one advantage – it’s very large, that’s it.

Do you think that we have come to this situation also because of the lack of good cultural management?

What I can say is that there is a lack of a cultural politic, the lack of a coherence between cultural management and what is happening at the highest level.

Normally, minding the level reached by The Enescu Festival, we should have had a concert hall of international standards.

I would love for somebody to come with a strategy in which they have in mind the benefits of a multi-functional concert hall, one that could be used intelligently from event to event.

During this pandemic, do you agree with the recording and transmitting online of the concerts? There have been many musicians that have said that music should only be listened to live, in a concert hall.

Here I, myself, am split.

On the one hand, I agree with Sergiu Celibidache, he was totally right. Once the music leaves the concert hall and the audience is not there, they do not experience these things we were talking about.

Music is not like the other arts, you can not paint some more lines or shoot another take.

On the other hand, Nobody has ever lived something like this until now. We were forced to put a stop to our activity and try to find some survival mechanisms in these times, as do all the other fields.

It’s about survival.

“If we stop completely and wait for the moment in which we can make only live music, only in front of an audience, we might have to wait so long that the art will die completely.”

And then, I believe that survival of the art, of the musicians and the audience – these come first. Obviously, by respecting all of the current rules.

You were saying that being a complete conductor is also about life experience. What other passions do you have, other than classical music?

I like jazz music, I even have a concert ticket in Vienna, but it got canceled. I love traveling and reading. In fact, one of the best aspects of my profession is that I get to travel a great deal.

And I love going into the archives and studying manuscripts. Discovering lost works of doing somewhat of a musical detective work, following a theory, seeing if it confirms or not.

And some of the greatest satisfactions I’ve had in libraries, when I’ve discovered works that I had searched for years.

Is Vienna the city in which you’ve decided to settle down?

I’ve studied in Vienna and then it was somehow natural to stay here, because it’s very easy to travel.

Other than the fact that it’s one of the perfect cities for a musician.

How do you see yourself in the future, what would you like to do and where?

I don’t have a where, but I have a what: music, as well as I can.

I want to be the best version of myself when I’m in front of an orchestra and in front of an audience.

As an ending, do you have any advice for the youth wanting a musical career and for their parents?

For the youth – be brave, because that will open many paths, and to the parents – if they see their children dreaming, encourage those dreams.

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His story began in Timișoara, where he was born into a family with 10 brothers.

He studied violin, and when he was 17 he had the chance to leave for America. An American family was visiting Timișoara, adopting a Romanian child, and teen Cristian was their guide through the city. He invited them to a concert, and they suggested he went to a summer school in America.

So he got to Michigan, USA and began the adventure that would change his life. Instead of enlisting at the summer school, Cristi accidentally filled out a form that enlisted him to a high school. He then recevied a scholarship and, along with his family, decided to remain there.

As a violin player, he was the youngest concertmaster in Miami Symphonic Orchestra’s history. He debuted at Carnegie Hall with that orchestra when he was only 19.

But his greatest wish was to conduct. And his dream came true.

He has conducted great orchestras such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He is currently living in Germany, with his wife and two children, but his trips to Paris will become more and more frequent.

Through rehearsals, concerts and flights, Cristian Măcelaru has agreed to do an interview with Cultura la dubă.

First of all, congratulations! What does it mean to you to be named Music Director of Orchestre National de France?

Personally, it represents validation of the way I view music and an appreciation and of the way I communicate the essence of art through my perspective.

What do you intend to do in your mandate, starting from September 2021?

I intend to create an atmosphere which underlines the artistic identity of this extraordinary ensemble and to support each other’s artistic potential.

What is special about this orchestra?

From the first moments I was attracted to it’s virtuosity and in the same time, the relaxed manner in which they play. And the, I was happy to discover an orchestra that wishes to evolve towards the refinement of it’s sound and a deeper understanding of compositions.

You’ve lived in America for a long time, where you got to work with the most important orchestras. How do you see your life from now on, living in Paris for the most part?

My time will be split mostly between the two cities where I’m a head conductor – Köln and Paris.

Although, I feel at home when ever I’m on the stage. And returning to the European world that has created me, comes at the right time in my life, at the time in which I can state my perspective regarding understanding of the purpose of art each day.

Have your Romanian origins influenced, in any way, your career?

I have been proud of the fact that I’m coming from Romania. And I am very happy meeting Romanians all over the world, appreciated for the level in which they do their work. In the world of music, being Romanian has always made me feel like being part of a big family.

“We wish for a concert hall with adequate acoustics and worthy of one of the most important festivals of the world.”

Cristian Măcelaru

What is the composition that brings you most joy, when you’re conducting?

I couldn’t say that there’s one in particular, what I can say is that each work has a unique feel to it that transports me into a world of nostalgia with memories associated with those moments, and on the other hand, a world of creating new emotions, new images.

You have conducted, during the George Enescu Festival, The Royal Concertgebouw. There have been, as you might know, talks about the need for a newly built concert hall in Bucharest, especially for The Enescu Festival. How does the acoustic at the Palace Hall seem to you?

I believe that it is important to keep in mind that this hall was not built as a concert hall. Of course, we all wish for a concert hall with adequate acoustics and worthy of one of the most important festivals of the world.

Are you following the events of our country, socially, politically? What is the change that you believe is needed in Romania right now?

Romania needs to come back to the moral and ethical values of a society worthy of out cultural values. We pride ourselves with Enescu, the composer, but maybe we have a lot to learn from Enescu the human being, who was of an admirable integrity.

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