A Celebration of the Romanian-American Friendship
A tour dedicated to Romania's National Day
The Madrigal Choir crossed the borders of Europe in 1969 and performed for the first time in the United States of America. With an impressive history, the Madrigal Choir has been an important actor on the stage of cultural diplomacy for Romania.
Today we will mark the 60th year since the founding of the Madrigal Choir and the 35th year since its last appearance in the USA with an anniversary tour in several cities. Each event will be dedicated to Romania's National Day celebrated on December 1 and will reflect the high artistic values that the Madrigal Choir has been stating for its whole existence.
The activity of the Choir is inextricably linked to the national program of social integration through music - Cantus Mundi, which has so far supported several tens of thousands of children.
The Madrigal Choir is one of the strongest cultural links between our country and the world. The Romanian Ministry of Culture proudly supports the Madrigal Choir as a reputed ambassador of our cultural values in the United States.
Raluca Turcan
Minister of Culture
Andrei Muraru
Ambassador of Romania to the U.S.
Welcome to a unique concert!
A concert that I am sure you will remember for a long time.
The Madrigal Choir is one of the most famous and admired cultural institutions of Romania. Since its establishment, 60 years ago, it has represented Romania in the most prestigious international contexts as a first-rate emblem of Romanian culture and a prodigious vector of Romania’s cultural diplomacy.
With impeccable musical standards of interpretation, a dramatic, unforgettable presence and an extensive repertoire, the Madrigal Choir has conquered the most important musical stages of the world.
Its repertoire is directed towards the European Renaissance, Gregorian and Byzantine chant, traditional carols, but also towards classical and contemporary Romanian and universal compositions.
This year we mark not only 60 years since the foundation of the Madrigal Choir but 35 years since its last American appearance, with an anniversary tour between November 24th to December 4th, in four major U.S. cities: New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Seattle.
This tour is also a masterful exhibit of the theme chosen for this year’s public diplomacy efforts by the Embassy of Romania to the United States - “Romania and the United States: A Partnership for the Future. Celebrating Romanian Talent”.
Romania and the United States are close friends and allies not only in fields like security, energy, economy and education but we also have strong cultural ties.
A Comeback to Celebrate
The return of the Madrigal Choir to the United States after thirty five years is the most important musical event of Romanian cultural diplomacy in 2023 and undoubtably one of Romania’s great projects of international cultural cooperation in recent years.
To be sure, for the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York the jubilee tour of this legendary Romanian cultural institution, known and admired on all continents for more than half a century, is an unprecedented effort, both in terms of the massive deployment of artistic and managerial forces and its pan-American scope.
This series of recitals of the highest artistic level, performed in prestigious American halls by one of the world's great choral ensembles, demonstrates the vitality of Romanian-American cultural relations and the importance of culture in the transatlantic exchanges, which has translated in the ever-increasing presence of Romanian artists in visible American contexts.
We are honored to co-organize, with our partners at home and in the United States, the much-awaited American comeback of the Madrigal Choir, and we hope that the encounter with one of Romania’s most powerful cultural brands will offer a memorable and inspiring experience as well as an invitation to more Romanian discoveries.
Dorian Branea
Director, Romanian Cultural Institute in New York
Emil Pantelimon Manager of the National Chamber Choir "Madrigal-Marin Constantin"
Madrigal Choir - Celebrating its Sixth Decade of Existence
We are on the margins of a historic event that must be recorded and will be talked about for a long time to come. The Madrigal Choir's sixth decade of existence marks its sixth tour of the United
States.
If in 1969 President Richard Nixon, welcomed in Romania to the sound of the Madrigal, lit the spark of the choir's transatlantic tours, opening the doors of the highest diplomatic institutions and
bringing a new spirit, unparalleled in the sphere of the communist bloc, today, after 54 years, Romania's cultural brand returns to the USA and resumes a tradition interrupted 35 years ago.
Madrigal brings harmony, spreads the spirit of quality music and represents the pillar of professionalism and spirituality with which Romania is represented in the world at the highest level.
Zoe Dumitrescu Bușulenga said: "What I found extraordinary in New York, when I listened to them, was the effect Madrigal had on the United Nations. The secretary at the time, Mr. U Thant, a man of great subtlety, of great intellectual refinement, was absolutely stupefied by so much beauty, so much mastery, so much craftsmanship, so much technical perfection and, at the same time, so much potential for thought involved in a music which, apparently, was of geometric simplicity. And you should know that, after that, Romania's presence at the United Nations had a more prominent role and, I would say, efficiency. It was the merit of the Madrigal ..."
On this note, allow me to express my joy, honour and responsibility to continue the mission of the Madrigal phenomenon started 54 years ago. In collaboration with H.E. Ambassador Andrei Muraru,
I see an essential strategic partnership for Romania on the territory of the most powerful state in the world, through which the figure of Romania will be given added prominence.