Short historical description.

1. 18^th and 19^th century

Michael Haydn and Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf − the beginnings of orchestral music in Oradea.

The city of Oradea, an old cultural center, started to have a strenuous musical life at the beginning of the second half of the 18^th century, when a young musician, Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806), the younger brother of Joseph Haydn, was named organist and conductor at Bishop Ádám Patachich’s Palace in the period of 1760-1762. He was followed from 1764 to 1769 by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799). Both musicians are considered founders of Oradea’s musical life. However, another name has to be mentioned, that of Wenzel Pichl (1741-1805), a significant musician of high European standards, who also flourished and composed in this city, becoming a concertmaster of the episcopal orchestra. In the age of Dittersdorf, the orchestra consisted of 34 instrumentalists who came from Vienna and Prague, Oradea’s orchestra being among the most eminent ones in Europe at that time. Owing to Haydn and Dittersdorf, the city became abundant in musical life diversified not only within the “sacred,” tight bond of ecclesiastic cult and episcopal holidays, but also on a global scale, having numerous concerts as well as scenic and opera performances. As a result of some delations, which revealed “the immoral character of certain manifestations within the city’s artistic life and episcopal residency,” Empress Maria Teresa took a dramatic decision: to dissolve, at the end of the year 1768, the orchestra and the choir of Oradea. Thus, a rich, but short period of bloom in Oradea’s musical life came to an end as well as a unique orchestra of European standards was dissolved.

2. 19^th century

The initiation of a musical institute – the first “philharmonic concert.”

The colorful palette was, however, kept in the 19^th century as well. Leaving the church discreetly, the professional music would gradually enter the bourgeois saloons, conquering slowly the street, the park and the city. Along with the progress of the theater, opera performances would also increase gradually in number. If musical events at the end of the 18^th and in the first decades of the 19^th century were sparse, in the next period they would considerably multiply. During the year of 1828 there were not less than 83 opera performances in Oradea. The audience could have the opportunity to take delight in the presentation of some famous works from the epoch of Rossini, Donizetti, Weber, Verdi, Mozart, Auber, Gounod, Erkel…etc. Among others, bands led by Count Lajos Rhédey, Dávid Kilényi, Ferenc Komlósi and Antal Ruzitska we also remember as significant.

The second half of the 19th century finds the city of Oradea in a specific fever of establishments of several reunions, societies, clubs, by which we mean the Reunion of “Hilaria” Songs (1875), “Nagyváradi Dalárda” (the Male Choir of Oradea), the orchestra of the College of Law, managed by Gustav Weinpolter and then by János Fehérváry.

On 5 January 1888, the first “philharmonic concert” takes place in Oradea, conducted by chorus-master J. Schitzl. The orchestra interpreted Rossini’s Uvertura la Opera Tancred, Volkmann’s Serenade nr.3, Ekhard’s Variations for Horn, and Mozart’s Symphony nr.40 in G minor. In 1890 Music’s Friends Association of Big-Oradea was founded, the aim of which was to provide education in terms of cult music, organize concerts and performances, and to establish a music school. Under the patronage of this institute, besides the theater, a section of opera came to be inaugurated.

3. The State Philharmonic Institute

In 1949 the Philharmonic Community becomes a state institute, initiating a vast range of musical activities within the country as well as abroad.

The Symphony Orchestra has collaborated with performers and conductors of international reputation: Igor Oistrah, Mario del Monaco, Dimitri Başkirov, Aldo Ciccolini, Adam Horosiewicz, Arkadi Sevidov, Daniel Şafran, Ghidon Kremer, Ruggiero Ricci, Erich Bergel, Pierre Pierlot, Halina Czerny Stefanska, Zoltán Kocsis, Jenő Jandó, Dezső Ránki, Miklós Perényi, István Ruha, Ştefan Gheorghiu, Valentin Gheorghiu, Ion Voicu, Dan Grigore, Dana Borşan, etc.

The orchestra possesses a vast repertory, consisting of works belonging to pre-classic, classic and romantic composers, up to the masterpieces of the 20th century by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Respighi, Stravinski, Webern, Enescu, Bartók, etc.

Among the permanent conductors of the institute − in the 1950s: Botto Romulus, Zoltán Matolcsi, Constantin Dulgherescu, Aurel Popa, Erich Bergel; in the 1960s: Miron Ratiu (1957-1990), Liviu Florea, Remus Georgescu; in the 1990s and up to the present: Romeo Rimbu − the name of a genius stands out, that of Ervin Acél, who obtained this position in the orchestra in the years between 1963-1991, and then 1999-2006, up to his death. He accomplished countless concerts, a great number of records, tours and prime interpretations, shaping the repertory and refining the professionalism of Oradea’s symphony orchestra.

The orchestra has been invited to participate at diverse European festivals, such as Lancut, Assisi, Macerata, or Bucuresti. It has also held concerts in Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Brazil, Taiwan, Portugal, Switzerland… etc.

Present-Future

Since the 2003-2004 season, the orchestra has had a concert hall of its own − as opposed to the concerts of former seasons, which had been held in the hall of the National Theater. The new hall bears the name of Enescu and Bartók simultaneously, not only for the memory of the several concerts achieved by the two composers-performers in this city, but also for the symbol of multiculturalism of this area. The new hall has created several possibilities regarding the organization of vocal-symphonic, educational concerts, chamber concerts and a capella. In the past few years (2004-2005) the philharmonic began to re-introduce the opera as a genre on the stage of Oradea. Unfortunately, performances of opera are quite infrequent in Oradea, and for this reason, since the beginning of the season 2005-2006 an attempt has been made within the frame of the philharmonic to find a solution to re-stage the music of opera. The Barber of Seville by Rossini, The Four Note Opera by Tom Johnson and Anti-formalist Rayok by Shostakovich were the first successful attempts of the genre in the preceding season. Don Giovanni by Mozart, an opera performed incredibly successfully on 23 February 2006 by the Opera Studio team from Budapest, proves to be a perfect example to illustrate the great interest and need the opera-goers show at present for supporting this musical genre on the scene.

In 2003, the philharmonic also procured a new piano Bösendorfer for concerts. Besides, the philharmonic intends to patronize young and gifted artists, not only making them members of the orchestra − along with the professionally and vastly experienced ones − but also engaging the young generation as conductors.

The large number of recordings (over 40, to which several recordings from works of famous composers belong, who were active in the eighteenth-century Oradea), the invitations to play abroad, and the strenuous life of concerts (about 40 symphony concerts within a season) demonstrate the will of the institute to permanently promote the qualitative musical culture up to a high artistic level.