The 2023 edition of the Travelling Piano national tour, which unfolded from 4 to 30 May, featured eight recitals by pianist Horia Mihail, some of them on travelling pianos that reached various towns around the country in previous editions of the tour. Horia Mihail’s journey through the history of music for solo piano is now in its thirteenth year, and during this edition of the Travelling Piano national tour, audiences were able to join him as he followed the thread of pieces inspired by folk music from all over Europe.
The thirteenth edition of the tour was off to an international start in the form of a preview concert held in London on 4 May. Horia Mihail then returned to Romania to continue the tour in Deva, Brașov, Jassy, Roman, Bîrlad, and Caracal, with a finale at the Radio Concert Hall in Bucharest. The fact that the tour also takes in Romania’s smaller cities, each time leaving a concert piano at the disposal of the community, highlights the potential of cultural events in fostering social inclusion. The programme this year set out from Bartók’s famous Romanian Dances and went on to explore other compositions inspired by folk music drawn from the work of Schubert, Chopin, Grieg, Glinka, Dvorak, Ravel, Brahms, Brediceanu, and Dan Dediu.
For this edition, I chose compositions inspired by folk music. Since the Romanian public is familiar with the influence of the national folk music, I decided also to make a European excursion, setting out from the Banat for a destination on the other side of the continent before returning home to Wallachian and Moldavian themes.
Horia Mihail
Itinerary
4 May – London, Romanian Cultural Institute
8 May – Deva, Pro Arte Concert Hall
9 May – Brașov, Patria Concert Hall
17 May – Jassy, Union Concert Hall
18 May – Roman, House of Culture
19 May – Bîrlad, Marcel Guguianu Pavilion
29 May – Caracal, National Theatre
30 May – Bucharest, Radio Concert Hall
Video
For further details, see: www.pianulcalator.ro
