The Early Music Festival in Miercurea Ciuc will bring together more than 250 musicians from eight countries, July 5 to 13, with this year's edition dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach, and the celebration of the 340th anniversary of his birth and the 275th anniversary of his death, the theme of the festival also being centered around the great composer's works and the era he lived in.
The festival's artistic director, Filip Ignác, told a press conference on Thursday that Bach's music "is perfection" and explained that 12 of the 17 concerts scheduled for the festival are dedicated exclusively to the great composer.
"Bach was the composer who had no weaker work. (...) Everything Bach did, even a miniature of a few measures, is perfection. He is the composer who began every work with 'Jesus, help me' and ended it with 'thank you, Jesus'. So he was a deeply religious composer who was a true believer. And I'm not saying he wasn't, I truly think he was, because everything he did is so perfect, because the baroque style actually ends with him. After Bach, nobody could write anything in this style," said Filip Ignác.
The programme includes concerts for orchestra, chamber music, but also an exceptional event - the Mass in B minor - considered one of the composer's masterpieces.
The musicians on stage will come from Romania, Hungary, Germany, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria.
Running parallel to the festival is the Early Music Summer University, the only place in Romania where students can learn to play historical instruments, the organizers said.
The official opening of the festival will take place on Sunday, July 6, at the Franciscan Cathedral in Sumuleu-Ciuc, with a concert by the Cluj Baroque Orchestra, which brings together musicians from five countries.
The event is organized by Harghita County Cultural Centre, Harghita County Council and "Cultura Nostra" Association, in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Miercurea Ciuc and with the funding of several companies and institutions.
According to the information on the event's website, the first Early Music Festival in Miercurea-Ciuc was held in 1980 and is currently the longest-running festival of its kind in Romania.
The festival was banned during the dictatorship (between 1986 and 1989) and could be resumed only after the change of regime, the cited source further specified.
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