„Pe drumul Crăciunului” in Bucharest

On 19 and 20 December at 19:00, the Corul Național de Cameră „Madrigal – Marin Constantin”, conducted by Anna Ungureanu, will present the extraordinary performance „Pe drumul Crăciunului” at the Opera Națională București. The event’s special guests are Ofelia Popii and Marius Turdeanu, two of Romania’s most acclaimed and award-winning actors.
 
Tickets for the Bucharest performances are available on Bilete.ro:
19 December performance – TICKET LINK  https://s9.ro/1ovp
20 December performance – TICKET LINK  https://s9.ro/1ovq 

Event trailer – www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf3sEYOOXTQ

Built around the meaning of Christmas as a new beginning, the performance offers a universal parable about a family’s resilience in the face of the trials of fate and the miracle of faith and love. For almost 90 minutes, the celebrated ensemble, together with the guest actors and children from Cantus Mundi choirs, invites audiences to (re)discover the profound symbolism of Christmas through music, poetry, literature, set design, theatre, stage movement and lighting design. Every element of the performance creates an organic connection on stage between drama and hope, the classical and the modern, and traditional Romanian and international carols.

The extraordinary performance „Pe drumul Crăciunului” is directed and scripted by Emil Pantelimon, with set design by Vladimir Turturică. The dramatic texts were selected by Mădălin Guruianu and will take audiences through a dynamic emotional sequence, from „Cântarea Cântărilor” to poems by Eugen Jebeleanu, Lucian Blaga and Costache Ioanid and texts by Khaled Hosseini, Saint Tereza de Avila and Paulo Coelho.

One of Romania’s most enduring and best-loved cultural events of the festive season, the Madrigal Choir’s traditional performance forms part of the „Pe drumul Crăciunului” national tour, running  from 4 – 20 December, with 9 extraordinary performances in 7 cities: Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureș, Timișoara, Craiova, Suceava, Iași and Bucharest. 
The „Pe drumul Crăciunului” national tour is the first anniversary project in the series of events in the „Madrigal 60” programme, which will run throughout 2023, when the Corul Național de Cameră „Madrigal  – Marin Constantin” celebrates 60 years of uninterrupted existence.

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Partner Compania Națională Aeroportuti București

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Corul Național de Cameră „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” is an emblem of Romanian and international musical life. Since its foundation in 1963 by the conductor Marin Constantin (1925–2011), the Madrigal Choir has given thousands of concerts acclaimed 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 works. In November 2016, the Corul Naţional de Cameră „Madrigal – Marin Constantin” was officially recognised as an Ambassador of Freedom, Hope and Peace, receiving the „Jean Nussbaum and Eleanor Roosevelt” award at the United Nations Palace in Geneva during the Global Summit on Religion, Peace and Security. After 58 years of uninterrupted activity, the Corul Național de Cameră „Madrigal – Marin Constantin”, a public concert institution of national importance under Romania’s Ministerul Culturii, 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 Programul Național Cantus Mundi, Romania’s largest programme for children’s social integration through music, initiated by maestro Ion Marin, which currently brings together over 1.800 choirs and over 60.000 children from Romania and the diaspora.

A theatre and film actress, Ofelia Popii graduated from the Facultatea de Teatru of the Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca in 2001, the year she joined the Teatrul Național „Radu Stanca” in Sibiu. Over the last 20 years, she has become one of the most highly regarded figures on the national stage, acclaimed by audiences and specialist critics alike, with dozens of outstanding roles that have earned her numerous national and international awards. One of her most charismatic and intense performances is as Mefisto, in the production of „Faust” (directed by Silviu Purcărete), for which she received the UNITER award for Best Actress (2008), as well as the „Herald Angel” award at the Edinburgh International Festival (2010). In 2021, she made her directorial debut with Sławomir Mrożek’s play „O zi de vară” at the Teatrul Național „Radu Stanca”. She has also appeared in eight Romanian feature films, the most recent being „Om, câine” (directed by Ștefan Constantinescu), released in 2021.

Marius Turdeanu is a theatre and film actor and a prominent, prolific figure on the national stage. He graduated from the Facultatea de Arta Actorului – Universitatea de Arte in Târgu Mureş in 2002, is a member of the Teatrul Național „Radu Stanca” in Sibiu and also works with the Teatrul Național in Târgu Mureș. In Sibiu, he appears not only in the latest premieres („Autobahn”, directed by Andrei and Andreea Grosu) but also in productions that have been in the theatre’s repertoire for many seasons („Cui i-e frică de Virginia Woolf?”, directed by Andreea and Andrei Grosu, „D’ale Carnavalului” and “Calatoriile lui Gulliver”, directed by Silviu Purcarete, or „Platonov”, directed by Alexandru Dabija). He has twice been nominated for the UNITER award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his roles in „Maestrul şi Margareta” (directed by Zoltán Balázs) and „Ispita Cioran” (directed by Gavriil Pinte). His most recent film is „Tom și Jerry 2.0”, an adaptation of Rick Cleveland’s play „Jerry and Tom”, directed by Florin Piersic Jr.