The Romanian Cultural Institute in London is thrilled to present, within its most successful permanent programme, Enescu Concerts Series, two acclaimed British-Romanian musicians, alumni of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, mezzo-sopranoAdriana Festeuand pianistCristian Sandrin, in a gala recital dedicated to theNational Day of Romania.
The programme of the concert traces the nation’s journey through a series of vivid musical “scenes”: from the life and rhythms of the village to the pulse of the city, from echoes of the French diaspora to moments of conflict and peace restored. Music by Romanian composers Felicia Donceanu, Tiberiu Brediceanu, Gheorghe Dima, and George Enescu is mixed with works by Kurt Weill, Vivaldi, Rossini, and Bizet, reflecting Romania’s enduring place at the crossroads of cultures. The British and Romanian audiences alike are invited on a voyage through sound and time, tracing the soundscape of Romania’s past and spirit.
This event is kindly supported byOsbornes Law.
PROGRAMME:
Village scenes
Felicia Donceanu – From the cycleMărgele -Bâlci in Aldebaran
Tiberiu Brediceanu –Bagă Doamne luna-n nor
Gheorghe Dima –Curcile & De ce nu-mi vii
Scenes from the French diaspora
George Enescu – from7 chansons de Clement Marrot, Op.15 -Estrenne a Anne,Languir me fais &Changeons propos
Adrian Pop – from7 fragments de Tristan Tzara -Va et viens
Scenes of conflict and peace
Antonio Vivaldi – from the oratorioJuditha triumphans -Armatae face angibus
Pascal Bentoiu –Despre război
Kurt Weill –Youkali
Urban scenes
George Bizet – from the operaCarmen -Chanson bohème
GioachinoRossini – from the operaIl Barbiere di Siviglia -Una voce poco fa
BIOGRAPHIES:
Mezzo-sopranoAdriana Festeu is a versatile performer with a wide-ranging career in opera, lieder, and oratorio, as well as extensive experience as a voice teacher, lecturer, and researcher. Her operatic repertoire includesRosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) andCharlotte (Werther) at the Romanian National Opera in Cluj; theKomponist in Strauss’sAriadne auf Naxos in London for New Palace Opera and Royal Academy Opera; and roles such asCenerentola,Calbo (Maometto secondo),Megacle (L’Olimpiade), andRustena (La verità in cimento) at Garsington Opera (cover). She has also appeared asMarianna (Il signor Bruschino) andLucilla (La scala di seta) with British Youth Opera;Isolier (Le Comte Ory) with Opera South;Xerxes (cover) with Longborough Opera;Endimione (La Calisto) andKomponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Royal Academy Opera; andFidalma (Il matrimonio segreto),Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro),Zerlina (Don Giovanni), andCandida (Emilia di Liverpool) at the Romanian National Opera and the European Opera Centre. As a recitalist and oratorio soloist, Adriana has performed at prestigious venues includingSt Martin-in-the-Fields, King’s Place, Wilton’s Music Hall, Gloucester Cathedral, St David’s Cathedral, Bridgewater Hall, andCité de la Musique (Paris). Her song repertoire featuresMahler’sLieder eines fahrenden Gesellen andKindertotenlieder,Respighi’sIl tramonto,Enescu’sSept chansons de Clément Marot,Dvořák’sCigánske melódie, andKorngold’s5 Lieder, Op. 38. Adriana has also recorded Romanian art songs for theBBC Radio 3 dramatisation ofBram Stoker’s Dracula, and later contributed Greek songs forThe Oresteia: The Libation Bearers andThe Mysteries of Udolpho. A graduate of theRoyal Academy of Music, Adriana earned her Master’s degree with Distinction on the Opera Course, followed by a performance-led PhD exploring voice classification. Her thesis,Exploring Zwischenfach: Understanding Vocal Classification and Its Professional Significance (2016), continues to inform her ongoing research, which she presents at conferences internationally. Adriana currently serves asHead of Year and Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, where she holds the title ofAssociate (ARAM). She is also Principal Lecturer in Classical Voice at Leeds Conservatoire. In 2010, she co-foundedOpera Prelude, a charity dedicated to presenting lecture-recitals and masterclasses atCadogan Hall and across the UK. Adriana is grateful for the support of theAHRC, International Opera Awards,and Opera Preludethroughout her studies and career.
Cristian Sandrin was born in Bucharest, Romania, into a family immersed in music. His father,Sandu Sandrin, a distinguished piano professor, surrounded him from an early age with both musical discipline and a broad culture of literature and ideas. He studied at Bucharest’sDinu Lipatti Art College withMarina Dragomirescu andCristian Dumitrescu. At 12, hearingChristian Zacharias perform Mozart concertos at the Romanian Atheneum inspired his decision to pursue music professionally. In 2012, Sandrin entered theRoyal Academy of Music in London, studying withDiana Ketler andChristopher Elton, where he was encouraged to be both imaginative and daring. He won theWilliam Sterndale Bennett Prize (2014) andHarold Craxton Chamber Music Prize (2016), received aDipRAM with distinction in 2018, and completed his degree in 2019. His2017 Wigmore Hall debut featured a tour of German Romanticism (Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann) and marked the start of his exploration of major repertoire, including Beethoven’s late sonatas. Known for his curiosity and openness, Sandrin sees chamber, solo, and concerto playing as interrelated, calling concertos “larger-scale chamber music works.” In 2022, he performed Beethoven’s last three sonatas and Bach’sGoldberg Variations, and he continues to champion new music through commissions and collaborations with living composers. His repertoire spans fromPurcell andE.T.A. Hoffmann to major 20th- and 21st-century works. A 2024/25 programme,The Wanderer, features Liszt’sAnnées de pèlerinage II: Italie, Schumann’sHumoresque, and Chopin’sBarcarolle.
AsCo-Artistic Director ofKettner Concerts at London’s National Liberal Club, he curates solo and chamber programmes, supports young musicians, and tours to Oxford and Manchester. His projectThe New Goldberg Variations (St John’s Smith Square, 2025) includes new variations byLouise Drewett,Philip Dutton, andFarhad Poupel inspired by Bach’s BWV 988.Critics praise his “generous sonorities” and “marvellous diversity of touch,” noting in his Beethoven a “chiselled beauty” and “scrupulous attention to detail.” (Christopher Axworthy – Music Commentary)The Romanian Cultural Institute in London is thrilled to present, within its most successful permanent programme, Enescu Concerts Series, two acclaimed British-Romanian musicians, alumni of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, mezzo-sopranoAdriana Festeuand pianistCristian Sandrin, in a gala recital dedicated to theNational Day of Romania.
The programme of the concert traces the nation’s journey through a series of vivid musical “scenes”: from the life and rhythms of the village to the pulse of the city, from echoes of the French diaspora to moments of conflict and peace restored. Music by Romanian composers Felicia Donceanu, Tiberiu Brediceanu, Gheorghe Dima, and George Enescu is mixed with works by Kurt Weill, Vivaldi, Rossini, and Bizet, reflecting Romania’s enduring place at the crossroads of cultures. The British and Romanian audiences alike are invited on a voyage through sound and time, tracing the soundscape of Romania’s past and spirit.
This event is kindly supported byOsbornes Law.
PROGRAMME:
Village scenes
Felicia Donceanu – From the cycleMărgele -Bâlci in Aldebaran
Tiberiu Brediceanu –Bagă Doamne luna-n nor
Gheorghe Dima –Curcile & De ce nu-mi vii
Scenes from the French diaspora
George Enescu – from7 chansons de Clement Marrot, Op.15 -Estrenne a Anne,Languir me fais &Changeons propos
Adrian Pop – from7 fragments de Tristan Tzara -Va et viens
Scenes of conflict and peace
Antonio Vivaldi – from the oratorioJuditha triumphans -Armatae face angibus
Pascal Bentoiu –Despre război
Kurt Weill –Youkali
Urban scenes
George Bizet – from the operaCarmen -Chanson bohème
GioachinoRossini – from the operaIl Barbiere di Siviglia -Una voce poco fa
BIOGRAPHIES:
Mezzo-sopranoAdriana Festeu is a versatile performer with a wide-ranging career in opera, lieder, and oratorio, as well as extensive experience as a voice teacher, lecturer, and researcher. Her operatic repertoire includesRosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) andCharlotte (Werther) at the Romanian National Opera in Cluj; theKomponist in Strauss’sAriadne auf Naxos in London for New Palace Opera and Royal Academy Opera; and roles such asCenerentola,Calbo (Maometto secondo),Megacle (L’Olimpiade), andRustena (La verità in cimento) at Garsington Opera (cover). She has also appeared asMarianna (Il signor Bruschino) andLucilla (La scala di seta) with British Youth Opera;Isolier (Le Comte Ory) with Opera South;Xerxes (cover) with Longborough Opera;Endimione (La Calisto) andKomponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Royal Academy Opera; andFidalma (Il matrimonio segreto),Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro),Zerlina (Don Giovanni), andCandida (Emilia di Liverpool) at the Romanian National Opera and the European Opera Centre. As a recitalist and oratorio soloist, Adriana has performed at prestigious venues includingSt Martin-in-the-Fields, King’s Place, Wilton’s Music Hall, Gloucester Cathedral, St David’s Cathedral, Bridgewater Hall, andCité de la Musique (Paris). Her song repertoire featuresMahler’sLieder eines fahrenden Gesellen andKindertotenlieder,Respighi’sIl tramonto,Enescu’sSept chansons de Clément Marot,Dvořák’sCigánske melódie, andKorngold’s5 Lieder, Op. 38. Adriana has also recorded Romanian art songs for theBBC Radio 3 dramatisation ofBram Stoker’s Dracula, and later contributed Greek songs forThe Oresteia: The Libation Bearers andThe Mysteries of Udolpho. A graduate of theRoyal Academy of Music, Adriana earned her Master’s degree with Distinction on the Opera Course, followed by a performance-led PhD exploring voice classification. Her thesis,Exploring Zwischenfach: Understanding Vocal Classification and Its Professional Significance (2016), continues to inform her ongoing research, which she presents at conferences internationally. Adriana currently serves asHead of Year and Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, where she holds the title ofAssociate (ARAM). She is also Principal Lecturer in Classical Voice at Leeds Conservatoire. In 2010, she co-foundedOpera Prelude, a charity dedicated to presenting lecture-recitals and masterclasses atCadogan Hall and across the UK. Adriana is grateful for the support of theAHRC, International Opera Awards,and Opera Preludethroughout her studies and career.
Cristian Sandrin was born in Bucharest, Romania, into a family immersed in music. His father,Sandu Sandrin, a distinguished piano professor, surrounded him from an early age with both musical discipline and a broad culture of literature and ideas. He studied at Bucharest’sDinu Lipatti Art College withMarina Dragomirescu andCristian Dumitrescu. At 12, hearingChristian Zacharias perform Mozart concertos at the Romanian Atheneum inspired his decision to pursue music professionally. In 2012, Sandrin entered theRoyal Academy of Music in London, studying withDiana Ketler andChristopher Elton, where he was encouraged to be both imaginative and daring. He won theWilliam Sterndale Bennett Prize (2014) andHarold Craxton Chamber Music Prize (2016), received aDipRAM with distinction in 2018, and completed his degree in 2019. His2017 Wigmore Hall debut featured a tour of German Romanticism (Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann) and marked the start of his exploration of major repertoire, including Beethoven’s late sonatas. Known for his curiosity and openness, Sandrin sees chamber, solo, and concerto playing as interrelated, calling concertos “larger-scale chamber music works.” In 2022, he performed Beethoven’s last three sonatas and Bach’sGoldberg Variations, and he continues to champion new music through commissions and collaborations with living composers. His repertoire spans fromPurcell andE.T.A. Hoffmann to major 20th- and 21st-century works. A 2024/25 programme,The Wanderer, features Liszt’sAnnées de pèlerinage II: Italie, Schumann’sHumoresque, and Chopin’sBarcarolle.
AsCo-Artistic Director ofKettner Concerts at London’s National Liberal Club, he curates solo and chamber programmes, supports young musicians, and tours to Oxford and Manchester. His projectThe New Goldberg Variations (St John’s Smith Square, 2025) includes new variations byLouise Drewett,Philip Dutton, andFarhad Poupel inspired by Bach’s BWV 988.Critics praise his “generous sonorities” and “marvellous diversity of touch,” noting in his Beethoven a “chiselled beauty” and “scrupulous attention to detail.” (Christopher Axworthy – Music Commentary)
