The 2025 edition of the George Enescu International Festival registered solid growth and a real opening, both nationally and internationally, the ARTEXIM manager, Cristina Uruc, executive director of the Enescu Festival and Competition, declared on Monday.
"Designated in 2026, on January 14, by the Union of Music Critics, Editors and Producers of Romania, as the 'Festival of the Year 2025' at the Muzicrit Award gala, the Enescu Festival recorded remarkable results in terms of cultural, public, communication and visibility impact. If we look at the 2025 edition from the perspective of the public and cultural impact, we are talking about solid growth and a real opening of the festival both nationally and internationally. In Bucharest, we have just exceeded the threshold of 150,000 beneficiaries of our concerts, among whom over 100,000 are paying spectators, compared to 82,000, as they were initially in 2023, which shows an increase of approximately 22% and confirms not only the public's interest, but also the relevance of the festival in the current cultural landscape. In at the same time, the festival is becoming more visible across borders," said Uruc.
The ARTEXIM manager presented, on Monday, at the Ministry of Culture, the results of the 2025 edition of the George Enescu International Festival, together with Cristian Macelaru, the artistic director of the George Enescu International Festival and Competition, in the presence of the Minister of Culture, Demeter Andras Istvan.
She specified that the festival's budget amounted to approximately 75 million lei, being supported by both public and private sources, the largest part of the financing, approximately 69 million lei, coming from the State Budget of the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Culture.
"ARTEXIM's own revenues, generated by ticket sales for the 2025 edition, reached approximately 11.2 million lei, registering an increase of over half a million compared to the 2023 edition, considering that the Palace Hall was reduced in capacity to 3,000 seats from 4,000 compared to the 2023 edition. It is true that we had even more concerts, but this growth is organic and we can enjoy it, it will ensure salaries and utilities for our institution and we will thus be able to invest in ARTEXIM cultural projects with the revenues we obtained in 2025 for the development of the Enescu brand and beyond", specified Cristina Uruc.
According to the ARTEXIM manager, the Festival is becoming increasingly visible across borders.
"We are pleased to announce that the number of tickets purchased from abroad increased in the 2025 edition by over 8% compared to the previous edition, which shows me that Enescu is increasingly perceived as an international cultural landmark. In the most recent statistics published on the backtrack.com platform, the most important musicians, conductors and the most famous touring orchestras in the world visited Romania in 2025, placing it in ninth place in the top of the most visited countries by the most important orchestras, surpassing the United States of America. In the same statistics, maestro Cristian Macelaru is in the top 5 of touring conductors at an international level, a performance that requires an exceptional level of work, dedication and artistic rigor", said Uruc.
The national expansion of the Enescu Festival has also increased, reaching over 20 cities in Romania last year, as well as Chisinau, through a network of partnerships with public performance institutions, philharmonics, the private sector, the NGO sector, and also with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute and embassies.
"We also continued to develop the research, education and inter-disciplinarity dimension in the 2025 edition. And I am referring here to formats such as Enescu Book Talks, book launches, the Festival Review, the exhibitions held in partnership with AGERPRES or with the Enescu Museum at the Palace Hall, the 'Enescu and the Minotaur' exhibition, held in partnership with Art Safari and at the George Enescu National Museum, which took place until December. All of this extended the festival experience beyond the concert hall and we managed to reach audiences who sometimes no longer visit the festival concerts. The Art Safari exhibition was an important point outside our concert coverage area, which brought a different audience to the hall. Most of those interviewed at the immersive concerts at Mina [Museum of Immersive New Art, MINA], or those interviewed at Control [Control Club] said that they also learned about the festival through this exhibition", said the ARTEXIM manager.
The George Enescu International Festival received two nominations and won the Silver Award for Excellence at the Romanian PR Award 2025, alongside CONAN PR, in the public sector communication category. Also in 2025, it was awarded the prize for the immersive concert series at the Digital Transformation and AI Gala.
In Romania, the media visibility reached 17,561 published materials, which means an increase of approximately 34% compared to the 2023 edition, the total audience reached 128 million people, registering an increase of approximately 65% compared to the 77.8 million in the previous edition.
"In the digital area, the increases were spectacular. Organic reach increased by 290% on Instagram and by over 500% on Facebook. Traffic on the website (http://www.festivalulenescu.ro/) increased by 400%, and the number of international visitors on our website increased by 267%. Also, the newsletter subscriber base tripled compared to the 2023 edition", informed Cristina Uruc.
At the international level, said the ARTEXIM manager, the Enescu Festival generated 166 appearances in foreign media, being present in both general and cultural publications, which contributed to strengthening its international profile. "These results were supported by an extremely extensive media presence; 137 accredited Romanian journalists, 60 accredited international journalists and 80 influencers," Cristina Uruc added.
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