The Hoinar Festival program dedicates one of its days to the youngest music and story lovers, so on Saturday May 11, from 11:00, at the ACT Theater, the show Once Upon a Piano will take place, recommended for children aged between 6 and 12 years.
The show is an atypical piano recital, with music inspired by the most beloved childhood fairy tales. Held in the dark, the concert becomes a foray into a world of fiction through video projections, accompanied by text, with the help of which well-known stories are illustrated (“Cinderella”, “The Raven and the Fox”), but also less common myths (“Legend of Hero and Leander”). The stories are followed in real time, accompanied by the music of Chopin, Prokofiev, Liszt and Paul Constantinescu, like a real movie soundtrack. Tickets: https://bit.ly/AFostOdataUnPian
“Hoinar Festival. Carnival 2024 is a true sanctuary of creativity and humanity, with deep messages hidden in the musical notes. Whether it's the heartwarming story of two clowns crossing the boundaries between innocence and maturity or exploring the diverse forms of classical music through the eyes of children, each event at the festival is an open invitation to discover and understand human depths. We raise the curtain for all those who want to feel the unique vibration of classical music, in a celebration of sounds and emotions, where the piano enters a dance of instruments, demonstrating once again its power to unite and inspire. Thus, the public is not only a spectator, but also a protagonist of a multisensory journey, where music, image and word merge in perfect harmony”said Ruxandra Miuți, the festival manager.
A musical-dramatic confession
One of the most talented sopranos of her generation, Sarah Gabriel, described by Le Monde as “a consummate actress and singer”, will take to the ACT Theater stage on Sunday 12 May in The Human Voice, directed by Richard Williams, also present in Bucharest at the 7th edition of the Hoinar Festival.
Sarah Gabriel PHOTO: Kate Moun
Sarah Gabriel brings to life a woman teetering dangerously on the edge of sanity when her boyfriend of more than 5 years reveals to her over the phone that he is to marry another woman the next day. Adapted from the iconic play of the same name by Jean Cocteau, The Human Voice is a musical-dramatic confession, a complex psychological portrait of a woman who for 45 minutes does her best to change the inevitable “goodbye”. Alongside Sarah, on the ACT Theater stage, there will also be Florian Mitrea who will provide the live accompaniment on the piano, thus adding a component of subtle complexity to the musical monologue, which thus acquires a deep-intimate character, through the closeness between the voice and a single piano. The viewer has the feeling of an introspection into the most hidden and dark corners of a person. The show will start at 19:30 and will be followed by a special debate with guests from the fields of culture and psychology. Tickets have already been put on sale: https://bit.ly/VoceaUmana
Sarah Gabriel, who made her American debut as Lucy Lockit in The Beggar's Opera (Benjamin Britten) under the baton of Lorin Maazel, performs music spanning over 300 years of history, giving recitals at Wigmore Hall, Glyndebourne, at the Festivals Internationals at Dartington and Cheltenham. Fascinated by the socio-cultural upheavals of the 20th century, Sarah founded her own Weimar cabaret orchestra, The Blue Hour, an ensemble described by The Guardian as “capable of artistic magic, quite simply!”. Sarah is a well-rounded artist, having also written the musical theater plays A House on Middagh Street and Barlines, as well as the lyrics for Beethoveniana presented at the BBC Proms 2020.
The director Richard Williams, awarded with numerous awards in Great Britain, is one of the international guests that Hoinar Festival brings close to the Romanian public this year. Richard has produced shows ranging from Chekhov plays to Vivaldi operas and musical theatre, and has been Artistic Director of four theater companies (Manchester Contact Theatre, Oxford Stage Company, Unicorn Theater London and Liverpool Playhouse). He currently teaches at Drama Center London and Central Saint Martins.
The Human Voice show will be followed by a free debate between the audience and special guests of the evening – writer Doina Ruști, UNATC rector Liviu Lucaci and psychologist Mihaela Sahlean – moderated by Bogdan Stănescu. The theme of the debate, “Dependence and communication in the modern world”, is inspired by the topics raised by Jean Cocteau's play, topics that through their universality manage to remain current even in 2024.
The 7th edition of Hoinar Festival has as its central theme the concept of Carnival and will take place between 10 and 14 May 2024, bringing together in Bucharest 15 artists of international caliber who will perform 4 incursion shows. The opening event is a lied recital, accompanied by readings and video projections – Songs of the Clown (10 May, 19:30, ACT Theatre, tickets: https://bit.ly/SongsOfTheClown), while the closing event is a real concert-show to the rhythms of Johannes Brahms and Camille Saint-Saëns, with the special participation of the actress Alexandrina Halic – Carnaval (14 May, 19:00, Romanian Athenaeum, tickets: https://bit.ly/CarnavalHoinar).
