“Oltenia” Philharmonic from Craiova

„OLTENIA” PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA - CRAIOVA, ROMANIA

The “Oltenia” Philharmonic from Craiova, a well-known institution in the Romanian musical life, has been founded in 1904 and established in 1947 by a Royal Decree. The present activity is carried out by the Symphony Orchestra (around 80 professional musicians), the Chamber Orchestra, the Academic Choir, as many chamber assemblies, too.

The repertoire includes masterpieces of symphonic music, operas, oratorios, requiems, musical jewels, arrangements of famous jazz pieces, covering a large historical period, from Baroque to contemporary.
The Symphony Orchestra was conducted by musical personalities, such as Alexandr Dmitriev (Russia), Kurt Adler (USA), Wolfgang Gröhs (Austria), Carmen Moral (Peru), Ivan Marinov (Bulgaria), André Nève (Belgia), Stanislav Wislocki (Polonia), Constantin Silvestri, Mihai Brediceanu, Sergiu Comissiona, Iosif Conta, Erich Bergel, Emil Simon, Horia Andreescu, Camil Marinescu and collaborated with famous soloists, like Pavel Kogan, Igor Oistrakh, Mihail Homitzer, Vladimir Viardo, Boris Gudnikov, Vladimir Orlov, Alexander Slobodianik (Russia), José Manuel Esteban (Spain), Thierry de Brunhoff (France), Weimer Stanley (USA), Marcella Crudeli, Fausto Zadra (Italy), Ion Voicu, Ştefan Ruha, Lola Bobescu, Silvia Marcovici, Radu Aldulescu, Valentin Gheorghiu, Dan Grigore, Nicolae Herlea, Ileana Cotrubaş, Viorica Cortez, Mariana Nicolesco ş. a.

Recording houses like: Electrecord, Musical Company - Arad (Romania); V.D.Gallo - Doron, Lausanne (Switzerland); R.Z - Berlin (Germany); Disk Makers, Pennsauken - New Jersey (USA) produced highly appreciated CDs and LPs for “Oltenia” Philharmonic.

The symphony orchestra was invited in Italy to perform at the summer concerts together with Katia Ricciarelli - the world’s famous Italian soprano - and to attend to “The International Courses for Young Conductors” from Manfredonia, Alessandria (Italy), Corsica (France), “The International Competitions for Young Soloists” (the finales with the orchestra), in Italy: “G.B. Viotti” (Varallo), “Rodolfo Lipizer” (Gorizia), “Citta di Cantu” (Como); in France: The International Festival “Les Nuits Pianistiques” (Aix-en-Provence); The Opera Festivals in Germany and Italy (Spoleto).
The symphonic repertoire of the orchestra covers, among others, the integral symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner; Symphonies nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 by Mahler; Symphonies nos. 1, 5, 8, 9 and The Chamber Symphony by Shostakovich; “La Mer”, “Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune” by C. Debussy; “Bolero” by M. Ravel; The Symphonic Poems “The Preludes”, “Orpheus”, “Tasso”, “Faust” Symphony by Liszt; The Symphonic Poems “Don Juan”, “Also sprach Zarathustra”, “Don Quixote”, “Till Eulenspiegel”, “Death and Transfiguration” by R. Strauss; “The Firebird”, “Le Sacre du printemps”, “Petrushka” by Stravinsky.

The “Oltenia” Philharmonic from Craiova organizes in 2013 the 40'th anniversary edition of the traditional International Festival “Musical Craiova”, distinguished by the concerts’ comprehensive programmes, the highest artistic quality of the assemblies and the guest-personalities, also.

Press Echoes:

“The Orchestra of Craiova has demonstrated to be the best one as a good balanced sound.” (Darmstäder Echo);
“The orchestra's sections are homogenous; an assembly of a marvellous harmony. It's an important Romanian orchestra.” (Rhein-Neckar Zeitung);
“Discipline, interest, musicality conducted to an exceptional efficiency of the orchestra.” (Erich Bergel);
“The skills of this orchestra which is situated on the top-level of the best artistic assemblies from our country are remarkable.” (Eugen Sarbu);
“It was a great pleasure for me to perform together with this orchestra.”
(Silvia Marcovici);
“Craiova it's an interesting town and this orchestra it's of a high potential.”
(Lory Wallfisch);
“In Craiova I had the opportunity to meet extraordinary musicians, an orchestra and a choir of the first quality.” (Bruce Polay);
“I remark the whole orchestra which has offered the total energy and attention, realising a splendid interpretation.” (Vincenzo Balzani)

ACADEMIC CHOIR OF "OLTENIA" PHILHARMONIC - CRAIOVA, ROMANIA

The Academic Choir of “Oltenia” Philharmonic from Craiova, one of the most valuable artistic assemblies of this genre in our country, was created in 1953.

The vast repertoire sums up about 1000 of the representative compositions of our choral art like: Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic and Contemporary.

Around 60 professional musicians form the the choir of the “Oltenia” Philharmonic. The activity is extended on two big chapters: a cappella and choral concerts. A cappella concerts include pieces of all epoques and creations, styles of diversity and technical difficulty specific to first class professional ensembles. The vocal-symphonic concerts include masterpieces of universal and Romanian musical literature as: passions, masses, requiems, oratories, cantatas a.o. We illustrate some of them: “Johannes-Passion”, “Matthäus-Passion” Oratorios, The Great Mass in B minor, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio by J. S. Bach; “The Seasons”, “The Creation” Oratorios by J. Haydn; Requiem, The Coronation's Mass, The Great Mass in C minor by W. A. Mozart; Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra and Symphony No. 9 by L. v. Beethoven; Requiem and Quattro pezzi sacri by G. Verdi; “Messiah” Oratorio by G. Fr. Händel; Stabat Mater by G. Rossini; Requiem by G. Fauré; A German Requiem by J. Brahms, “Carmina Burana” by C. Orff; Mass in E-flat Major by F. Schubert; „Joan of Arc at the Stake” Oratorio by A. Honegger; Byzantine Christmas Oratorio and Byzantine Easter Oratorio by P. Constantinescu; “Elijah” and “Paulus” Oratorios by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy; Choral Symphony „The Bells”, “Spring” Cantata and “Vespers” by S. Rachmaninoff.

The “Oltenia” Philharmonic from Craiova organizes the annual well-known International Festival “Musical Craiova”, distinguished by the concerts’ programme, the highest artistic quality of the assemblies and the guest-personalities also.