Timișoara became, from February 2023, the European Capital of Culture, the objectives of the project focusing on the influence that people have on the community in which they live. Recognized for its multicultural environment, Timișoara aims to continue to be a city where cultural excellence prevails.
In this context, ICR Brussels will organize a series of events, in partnership with the Western University of Timișoara and the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR), on June 17, 2023. Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu, professor at the Western University of Timișoara, will perform a concert entitled "Fête du violon", an event that will be hosted in the Concert Hall of the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) - a prestigious institution whose building dominates the Mont des Arts space in the heart of Brussels. The project is also dedicated to World Music Day (June 21) and will include a unique exhibition entitled "À la redécouverte d'une amitié: George Enescu – Eugène Ysaÿe". The Royal Library of Belgium will present, on this occasion, original scores signed by iconic European composers, photographs and books from the royal archives, selected in close connection with the musical program of the concert. The particularly valuable objects that will be exhibited, for the first time, are intended to emphasize the special relationship between the great Romanian composer George Enescu and the Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe.
"The Western University of Timișoara, an academic community involved in the life of the Timișoara community, is proposing this year a series of European-level events, included in the overall program Timișoara 2023 - European Capital of Culture. We have a dense program that takes place in Timișoara and which emphasizes the role that a university must have in a community. Because "At UVT, Culture is the Capital!", the presence of the Romanian musician Alexandru Tomescu in the capital of Europe, together with Belgian musicologists, artists and researchers, as part of a complex project organized with the support of the ICR Brussels team, confirms that we want to attract attention not only from the general public, but also from specialist communities around the world. As rector, I supported these initiatives and offered all the support to make this possible" - said the rector of UVT, Marilen Pirtea.
Alongside Alexandru Tomescu, Mrs. Marie Cornaz, PhD in musicology at the Free University of Brussels and curator of the collections of the music department of the Royal Library of Belgium, will be invited in a dialogue aimed at bringing to light common Romanian-Belgian cultural values, from historical perspective, but also from the perspective of contemporary interpretation, in the context of the presence of the valuable Romanian musician and violin Stradivarius Elder-Voicu, in Brussels.
Alexandru Tomescu returns to Belgium after four years, being invited, in 2029, to the preview of the EUROPALIA Romania International Arts Festival. His extraordinary career, which intertwines numerous 'Stradivarius' tours, supported with the help of the famous Stradivarius Elder-Voicu instrument, with concerts in which the Romanian musician performed with orchestras from all over the world, is known to the European public.
I could consider this period a good time to take stock, especially since one of the most appreciated cultural projects organized in the preview of the EUROPALIA Romania Festival at Beloeil Castle, in 2019, was the "Alexandru Tomescu and the Stradivarius violin" concert. I am honored and very happy to note that this project has remained alive in the memory of the public in the capital of Europe. This year, in the context of Timișoara 2023 European Capital of Culture and World Music Day, the STRADIVARIUS Elder-Voicu violin will once again reveal its richness of sound, under the mastery of the Romanian violinist Alexandru Tomescu, in the prestigious concert hall of the Library Royal of Belgium. It is a privilege to have with us a special partner from the Romanian academic environment, an institution recognized for its international openness, for its high-performance research projects and in which culture is capital - the Western University of Timișoara., said Liliana Țuroiu, director of ICR Brussels.
The event is a unique opportunity for the promotion of Romanian musicians in Belgium and for the transmission of Romania's cultural diplomacy messages, in the context of the project "Timişoara 2023 – European Capital of Culture" and World Music Day. The initiative to organize such a complex project is a first, and was received with great interest by the Belgian partners, the project representing an important moment in the level of bilateral cultural dialogue with prestigious partners in the reference area. Through this event, Romanian culture is celebrated in one of the most prestigious and highly visible cultural spaces of the European city of Brussels, giving the diplomatic and business environment, the Romanian diaspora, among others, the opportunity to meet one of the most relevant Romanian names at international level from the gallery of cult music, which, this time, will support a dialogue not only musically, but also verbally, with a renowned Belgian musicologist – Marie Cornaz, but also with those present.
ALEXANDRU TOMESCU is a violinist with a prodigious international career, winner of numerous national and international prizes at classical music festivals. Since his debut in 1985, he has given more than 200 concerts and recitals in 26 countries on all continents.
For his mastery, in September 2007, Alexandru Tomescu won the right to play the famous Stradivarius Elder-Voicu 1702 violin. The Stradivarius Elder violin, used for four decades by maestro Ion Voicu, is considered to be one of the best preserved instruments Stradivarius of the world. Alexandru Tomescu proved that he can tame any form of music, especially after the project "Paganini - angel or demon", which marked a milestone in his career. It was the moment when the violinist rethought his identity and which marks a radical turning point in the way the musician set out to change the existing perception of classical music in Romania. Since he returned to the country, after studying in Switzerland with Tibor Varga and the United States of America with Eduard Schmieder, Alexandru Tomescu wanted to demonstrate that classical music is a window to harmony with oneself and with others, a world open to all and that each it deserves the chance to explore it.
After a fruitful career in Europe and the world, sprinkled with successes in halls such as Théâtre des Champs Elysées - Paris, Carnegie Hall - New York or Metropolitan Arts Center - Tokyo, under the baton of masters such as Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur or Christoph Eschenbach, he returned to Romania, where he got involved in the organization of national classical music tours, made exclusively with private funds. He understood that the unconventional, as a combination of professionalism and innovation, is the key to reaching the general public, for which he became the protagonist of pilot events in the Romanian musical world: he played Stradivarius in a subway station, to prove that there is a significant receptivity to quality music; he sang in a forest to campaign against the irrational exploitation of the forest domain; sang in front of a house in ruins, to stop the destruction of buildings in the National Heritage; he sang to raise funds for the Association of the Blind in Romania or for hearing aids for children with hearing impairments. He is among the first artists who made it a clear mission to carry the message of classical music in Romanian cities where there are no philharmonics.
Alexandru Tomescu does not limit himself to singing in front of his audience, but cultivates an intense dialogue with it, either from the stage, explaining what he sings, or through the interviews he gives on specialized televisions and radios and not only that. Whether his voice is heard on Radio Romania Muzical or Radio Guerrilla, or whether his words are printed in Dilema Veche, he explains what it means to be an artist in Romania in the XNUMXst century, what sources feed his inspiration and why classical music deserves a chance .
Dr. MARIE CORNAZ is a musicologist and university professor, curator, author of several monographs, the most recent being entitled 'À la rédécouverte d'Eugène Ysaÿe' (2019), a work comprising an extensive study of musical sources and some manuscripts preserved in the Belgian collections, in which there are detailed references to Sonata no. 3 that the Belgian musician dedicated to George Enescu.
The Royal Library of Belgium is the most important profile institution in Belgium, with a collection of more than eight million volumes and documents, each year the collections are enriched with more than 100.000 books and periodicals. KBR also holds an important collection of heritage objects, some of the most relevant of which are present in the Library Museum's temporary or permanent exhibitions. This category also includes a vast collection of manuscripts, the 45.000 volumes placing KBR among the ten most important libraries in the world. Also, in the concert hall of KBR (capacity - about 120 people) numerous musical events of an exceptional artistic level are held, all very carefully selected.
ICR Brussels continues its traditional collaborations with the Benelux cultural environment, the partnership with the Royal Library of Belgium being part of the representation's strategy of continuing to develop projects with important, high-profile institutions.
