AMERICAN PREMIERE OF OEDIPE BY GEORGE ENESCU
Romanian composer George Enescu's singular opera Oedipe had its American premiere on October 15 th , at the Foellinger Great Hall of Krannert Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Romanian Cultural Institute director, Horia Roman Patapievici , Ambassador of Romania to Washington D.C. Sorin Ducaru , the General Consul of Romania to Chicago, Gheorghe Predescu, as well as stage director Andrei Serban attended the event at Urbana-Champaign.
Romanian faculty violinist and long-time Sinfonia da Camera concertmaster Serban Lupu orchestrated the American premiere of the George Enescu opera " Oedipe ". During the past few months, Lupu has traveled to China , Hungary , Finland , Poland and Romania to present Enescu's music in concert, and will perform in October in Germany , and on Dec. 4 in New York City 's Merkin Hall.
Romanian baritone Stefan Ignat , sung the title role of Oedipe . T he world-class baritone, has performed in opera houses throughout Europe and Asia , and recently portrayed Oedipe in a performance with the Bucharest National Opera at the George Enescu Festival in Romania .
The performance was the centerpiece of a larger event: “Oedipus and Its Interpretations,” a two-day symposium, Oct. 15-16, planned to attract classicists, musicologists and literary scholars from throughout the world to examine and discuss a variety of topics related to Enescu and the Oedipus story, in the context of the fiftieth commemoration since the great Romanian composer passed away.
George Enescu has been a musician whose fame extends worldwide to this day. Enescu's Romanian Rhapsodies remain among the most important musical works to ever emerge from Romania , and the only works that have ever truly captured the spirit of universal Romanian Culture. Enescu was professor of music in the United States at Harvard and at the University of Illinois .