The festivals SoNoRo and “Viata e frumoasa!” tempt us with a wide range of concerts and performances this November in Bucharest, from classical music to jazz, music-hall and dark cabaret, from Jane Birkin and Tom Jones to first-rank names of the American and European metal scene.
The sixth edition of the SoNoRo International Chamber Music Festival will take place November 5 to 24 in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Iasi and Bistrita, under the heading of “New Worlds”. The festival will open on Saturday, at 7pm, at the Cotroceni Palace’s Union Hall with a concert offered by Diana Ketler (piano), Benjamin Schmid (violin), Razvan Popovici (viola) and Adrian Brendel (cello). Jazz will also be represented, for the first time ever, in this year’s edition of SoNoRo by the Viennese trio Schmid-Carstensen-Breinschmid and the improvisations of Bucharest artist Luiza Zan or Lithuanian pianist Petras Geniusas, as well as by the works of the New York saxophonist and composer Daniel Schnyder.
November 10 to 20, Bucharest hosts the fourth edition of the “Viata e frumoasa!”/ “Life is Beautiful!” International Festival for Musical Performing Arts, organized by the “Ion Dacian” National Operetta Theatre (TNO), which will include concerts at TNO, as well as in other venues in Bucharest – from the Palace Hall, the Radio Hall, the Odeon Theatre and the Metropolis Theatre to the Old Town, the University Square and a number of churches (hosting religious music concerts). This year’s concert series ranges from classical and classical with rock influences, trance and synth-pop, to pop, dark, jazz, tango, religious music and traditional/ethnic music concerts.
At the same time, the Palace Hall will host, this November, concerts by celebrated artists – Elvis Costello (November 3), Jane Birkin (Nov 13) and Tom Jones (Nov 17), as well as the jazz ensembles The Manhattan Transfer (November 5) and Duke Ellington Orchestra (Nov 10). Havasi Balazs, considered the world’s fastest pianist, also promises to offer a grand performance on the Palace Hall stage on November 15. Rock will also be represented by the Swedish bands Amon Amarth, Demonical and Hammerfall, the German metal veterans Sodom, the Brits from Venom, the Finnish band Amorphis, the Germans from U.D.O. or the American metal band Iced Earth.
