AVE MARIA – a unique event on the Black Sea shore

Constanța, Bucharest – 3 August 2022
The National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” and Constanța City Hall invite local audiences and tourists on the Black Sea coast to a series of special „Ave Maria” performances, held on 15 and 16 August 2022, from 21:00, on the promenade by Constanța’s Casino (near the Mihai Eminescu statue group). 

Admission to the concerts is free, but exclusively with tickets reserved online through Bilete.ro  at https://s9.ro/1nwg.
Tickets will be available from 8 August at 8.00 and can be reserved in accordance with the rules displayed on the platform. 

The „Ave Maria” event is produced in partnership with Constanța City Hall and marks the Dormition of the Mother of God and Romanian Navy Day. The Madrigal Choir brings one of its best-loved performances to Constanța, acclaimed during performances in Bucharest over the past two years: „Ave Maria”, an artistic concept combining this celebrated ensemble’s unique sound with elaborate lighting and stage direction.

The Madrigal Choir’s Principal conductor, Anna Ungureanu, has selected a repertoire that gives musical expression to this moment of great importance to Romanian spirituality – the Dormition of the Mother of God. Actor Marius Manole also joins the cast, complementing the „Ave Maria” programme with a moving collection of psalms. The event will be enriched by the voices of children from Cantus Mundi choirs in Constanța, spectacular staging and lighting design that will showcase the city’s famous Casino promenade. The „Ave Maria” performance is directed by Emil Pantelimon, with musical direction by Anna Ungureanu. Lighting design is coordinated by Alin Popa, video mapping by Dorin Popovici, and sound by Gabriel Scîrlet.

„120 years after the first celebration of the Romanian Navy, the National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” and the Cantus Mundi National Programme offer this performance as a gift to local people and tourists. From now on, we hope to bring the „Ave Maria” project to the seaside every year, so that audiences in Romania can see and hear it exclusively in this place of special beauty. The sea will be the perfect setting for the Madrigal Choir, and its unique sound will become the means through which we celebrate Navy Day and the Dormition of the Mother of God in Constanța every year. We are pleased to have the local authorities alongside us and thank Constanța City Hall for its openness and the opportunity to produce a performance in an unusual setting, a place I am sure Madrigal will fill with fantastic energy” –  said Emil Pantelimon, Manager of the National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin”. 

Partners: Primăria Municipiului Constanța, Compania Națională Administrația Porturilor Maritime S.A. Constanța, Statul Major al Forțelor Navale Române, Șantierul Naval Constanța S.A., Universitatea „Ovidius” din Constanța,  City Park Mall Constanța, Circul Metropolitan București, Opera Comică pentru Copii, Teatrul Excelsior, Televiziunea Română.

Media partners: AGERPRES, Agenția de cArte, Bookhub, Itsy Bitsy, Radio BUCUREȘTI, Radio France International România, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Muzical, RADOR, Revista Psychologies, spotmedia.ro, Zile și Nopți

More information is available at www.madrigal.ro, http://www.primaria-constanta.ro/ and on the two institutions’ social media pages.

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National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” is an emblem of Romanian and international musical life. Since its foundation in 1963 by conductor Marin Constantin (1925–2011), the Madrigal Choir has given hundreds of concerts to acclaim around the world, establishing itself as a true national brand. It is one of the world’s benchmarks for chamber choral music, with a repertoire focused on the European Renaissance, Byzantine music, and contemporary Romanian and international compositions. 
In November 2016, the National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” was officially recognised as an Ambassador of Freedom, Hope and Peace, receiving the „Jean Nussbaum and Eleanor Roosevelt” award at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, during the Global Summit on Religion, Peace and Security. 
After 59 years of uninterrupted activity, the National Chamber Choir „Madrigal – Marin Constantin”, a public concert institution of national importance under Romania’s Ministry of Culture, continues its work in cultural diplomacy as one of Europe’s longest-established and most highly regarded choral ensembles.
Since 2011, the Madrigal Choir has run the Cantus Mundi National Programme, Romania’s largest programme for children’s social integration through music, initiated by Maestro Ion Marin, which currently brings together over 1.750 choirs and more than 60.000 children from Romania and the diaspora.

Marius Manole is one of Romania’s best-loved actors, an artist who transforms himself with equal authenticity into roles spanning different emotional worlds, from fragility to strength and from the classical to the experimental. With an outstanding career in theatre, film and television, Marius Manole graduated in 2001 from the acting department of Universitatea de Arte „George Enescu” in Iași, studying with professors Emil Coșeriu and Cornelia Gheorghe. Between 2002 and 2003, he studied in the choreography department at Universitatea Națională de Artă Teatrală și Cinematografică „Ion Luca Caragiale” in Bucharest. On 5 May 2016, President Klaus Iohannis awarded him the Order of „Meritul Cultural” at the rank of Knight, category D – ”Arta spectacolului”, for his „outstanding involvement in promoting Romanian theatre and cinema both at home and abroad”. He is currently a permanent company member at Teatrul Național „Ion Luca Caragiale” and works with theatre institutions in Bucharest and elsewhere in Romania, as well as on independent artistic projects.