Orchestre National de France,
Led by Cristian Măcelaru,
Releases Critically Acclaimed Enescu Recording as Special Edition Vinyl
Featuring Enescu’s
Romanian Rhapsodies 1 & 2
Out August 22, 2025
on Deutsche Grammophon
Preorder the Recording
“This first recording of George Enescu’s music on DG is something to celebrate.”
– BBC Music Magazine
New York, NY (July 29, 2025) – GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru leads his own Orchestre National de France in a new recording of George Enescu’s (1881–1955) Romanian Rhapsodies 1 & 2, due for release as a Special Edition vinyl album on Deutsche Grammophon on Friday, August 22, 2025. Originally released in April 2024 as part of a digital recording and 3-CD set comprising Enescu’s complete symphonic works, the recorded performances were lauded as “brilliantly played, and masterfully shaped” by The Classic Review. Gramophone praised the orchestra’s discerning interpretation of Enescu’s works, writing that the performance “captures their rich fabric of harmony and moods” and “should serve as the model for many future interpreters.” The Special Edition vinyl record is available for preorder in Deutsche Grammophon’s online shop.
The vinyl record will also be available for sale onsite at the 2025 George Enescu International Festival running from August 24 to September 21, 2025 in Bucharest, Romania, where Măcelaru serves as Artistic Director. Marking the 70th anniversary of its namesake composer’s death, this year’s festival will feature multiple concerts and exhibits to celebrate Enescu’s life and work.
The complete recording of Enescu’s works by Orchestre National de France, comprising the composer’s two famed Romanian Rhapsodies (1901) as well as his three rarely-performed completed symphonies, was captured in Paris, where the Romanian-born Enescu moved in his early teens. Dividing his time thereafter between France and Romania, the composer was greatly influenced by both cultures: His birthplace gave him “the Romanian spirit found in the centuries-old melodies and rhythms to which [he] refers with such consistency and depth,” while his adopted home “was where he developed into a mature, sophisticated musician,” Măcelaru explained.
Celebrated as a national hero in Romania and now gaining increased recognition worldwide, Enescu was not only a virtuoso violinist and pianist, but a prodigiously talented composer, conductor and teacher (with Yehudi Menuhin among his pupils). In Deutsche Grammophon’s recordings of his music, listeners find “perfect examples of the artistic development of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century,” Măcelaru commented. “From the youthful brilliance of the Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 to the profound, ethereal, philosophical ending of the Third Symphony, one can discover and relive the journey of this great genius, and my personal hero, George Enescu.”
George Enescu: Romanian Rhapsodies 1 & 2 Tracklist
Enescu – Romanian Rhapsodies, op. 11
1. No. 1 in A Major [11:53]
2. No. 2 in D Major [11:41]
TT: 23:34
About Cristian Măcelaru
GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Distinguished Visiting Artist at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He also serves as Artistic Partner of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, where he served as Chief Conductor from the 2019/2020 through 2024/25 seasons.
2025/26 marks Măcelaru’s inaugural season as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where his programming reflects his expansive artistic vision and dedication to both tradition and innovation. Măcelaru launches the season with a blended program of classical masterworks and contemporary pieces, pairing George Gershwin’s Concerto in F, featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud, with Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Anna Clyne’s Abstractions. In March 2026, Măcelaru and the Interlochen Center for the Arts embark on a tour celebrating the upcoming centennial of Interlochen and the 250th anniversary of American independence, with concerts beginning at the Center’s home in Interlochen, Michigan, and continuing through Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston. Students will perform a program featuring a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis, with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist.
With the George Enescu International Festival, Măcelaru curates a four-week concert schedule highlighting world-class orchestras in multiple international premieres and interpretations of classical music’s finest repertoire. He conducts the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in the festival’s opening-night concert in August 2025. Beginning at the festival, Măcelaru conducts the Orchestre National de France on a tour through Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria, featuring violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. In November, Orchestre National de France takes on a three-night tour in the United States with pianist Daniil Trifonov, culminating in an appearance at Carnegie Hall. In another Enescu Festival highlight, Măcelaru conducts the WDR Sinfonieorchester in a concert performance of Strauss’s Salome. Later in the season, he conducts the orchestra in three concert programs in Cologne and across western Germany. Măcelaru’s guest engagements include debuts with the Münchner Philharmoniker and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, as well as returns with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Czech Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony.
Măcelaru’s previous seasons include European engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra. Măcelaru maintains an especially close collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he previously held the position of Conductor-in-Residence for three seasons. He is equally at home as a conductor of opera, with career highlights including productions of Don Giovanni with the Houston Grand Opera and Madama Butterfly with Opera Națională București.
In 2020, Măcelaru received a GRAMMY® Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has released an array of albums including the complete symphonies of Saint-Saëns on Warner Classics with the Orchestre National de France as well as recordings featuring works by Bartók, Dvořák and Rachmaninoff on Linn Records with the WDR Sinfonieorchester. Măcelaru’s Linn Records album, Brahms: Piano Concertos with Simon Trpčeski and the WDR Sinfonieorchester, was featured in Classic FM’s November 2023 “Album of the Week” as well as BBC Music Magazine’s January 2024 “Concerto Choice.” His highly anticipated recording of Enescu’s Symphonies 1-3 and the composer’s two Romanian Rhapsodies with the Orchestre National de France was released in April 2024 on Deutsche Grammophon. The album won the 2024 Diapason d’Or of the Year and 2024 Choc Classica of the Year, and was featured on WRTI’s June 2024 “Best Classical Music Albums Released in 2024 (So Far)”.
Măcelaru is dedicated to opening classical music to a broader audience through accessibility and education. In his role as Chief Conductor with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, he created the ensemble’s Kurz und Klassic program, in which he shares personal insight into each of the major compositions chosen for performance. This video series has built a significant following, a testament to Măcelaru’s continued impact in bringing audiences closer to the music. With the Orchestre National de France, he created a new series of concerts, L’œuvre augmentée, conceived to deepen patrons’ appreciation of the music by offering insights into the themes and backgrounds of the works presented. Most recently, in his Artistic Director role with the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Măcelaru has created a new series of concerts for children as part of an initiative to enrich and modernize the festival. Emphasizing contemporary compositions, these programs enhance listeners’ appreciation of the music while promoting social values of equality, empowerment and diversity. He has also increased invitations for women conductors and implemented mental and physical well-being sessions for Competition participants. Through a historic collaboration with organizations including Romania’s Special Olympics, Măcelaru and the Festival are striving to modernize Romania’s concert halls to make them more accessible. For the 2024 George Enescu International Competition, Măcelaru and competition organizers received a record-breaking 555 applications from 57 countries.
With the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Măcelaru has helped nurture the collaborative spirit underlying the festival’s core mission. Using his leadership role as a platform for engagement, he has brought artists, audience members and festival executives into a shared creative process through open rehearsals and interaction with the composers in residence. Through the Cabrillo Emerging Black Composers Prize, Măcelaru and Cabrillo have partnered with the Emerging Black Composers Project, a ten-year commitment to spotlight early-career Black American composers and their music.
A champion of commissioning and premiering the music of today, Măcelaru has commissioned premieres from over 52 composers across his titled positions in Paris, Cologne and Cabrillo. This illustrious group of composers includes Wynton Marsalis, Tan Dun, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jennifer Higdon, Jake Heggie, Nico Muhly, Sean Shepherd and Gabriella Smith.
Măcelaru devotes significant time to mentoring young musicians in his capacity as an educator, continuing the great legacy of the Cabrillo Conductors / Composers Workshop that brings together the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and leading faculty with early-career conductors and composers for a professional training program focused on the creation and performance of new music. He also holds annual conducting masterclasses in Timișoara with the Romanian Chamber Orchestra and each year calls for scores from young Romanian composers. More than 40 compositions thus far have been written through this initiative. This past season, Măcelaru also worked with young musicians during his residency at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.
Măcelaru was born in Timișoara, Romania and comes from a musical family. As the youngest of ten children, all of whom received instrumental lessons at an early age, Măcelaru excelled on the violin. His studies took him from Romania to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, University of Miami in Florida and Rice University in Houston, where he studied conducting with Larry Rachleff. He then deepened his knowledge at Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival in masterclasses with David Zinman, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury.
Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at the age of 19. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons. His international career was launched in 2012 when he was asked to step in for Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During that same year, he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed by the Solti Conducting Award in 2014.
About Orchestre National de France (ONF)
A Radio France formation, the Orchestre National de France is the first permanent symphony orchestra created in France. Founded in 1934, it was born from the desire to forge a tool to serve the symphonic repertoire. This ambition, added to the broadcasting of concerts on the radio, has made the National Orchestra a prestigious formation. On September 1, 2020, Cristian Măcelaru took up his position as musical director.
Throughout its history, the orchestra has had many meetings with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Antal Doráti, Eugen Jochum, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matačić, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Georg Solti or Evgueni Svetlanov, and soloists such as Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nelson Freire, Yo-Yo Ma, Yehudi Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Vlado Perlemuter, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Arthur Rubinstein, and Isaac Stern.
The National Orchestra gives an average of 70 concerts per year in Paris, at the Radio France Auditorium, its main residence since November 2014, and during tours in France and abroad. The orchestra maintains a bond with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées where it performs every year, as well as with the Philharmonie de Paris. For 15 years, ONF has been offering educational programs aimed at amateur musicians, families and schoolchildren, visiting schools from nursery school to university. All of its concerts are broadcast on France Musique and frequently broadcast on international radio stations. The orchestra also records fiction concerts with France Culture. Learn more at www.maisondelaradioetdelamusique.fr.
About Deutsche Grammophon
One of the most prestigious names in global classical music since its foundation in 1898, Deutsche Grammophon has always stood for the highest standards of artistry and sound quality. Home to the greatest artists of all time, the famous yellow label is a beacon to which music lovers all over the world look for outstanding musical interpretations, audio recordings and visual productions. Highly dedicated to the development of new repertoire in art music, Deutsche Grammophon fosters and promotes a whole range of popular contemporary artists and eminent composers. The label also prides itself on its innovative use of the latest technology to provide music digitally to audiences worldwide.
Deutsche Grammophon’s current artist roster boasts some of the most distinguished figures in classical and contemporary music today, including Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Seong-Jin Cho, Gustavo Dudamel, Elīna Garanča, Hélène Grimaud, Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, Bruce Liu, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Víkingur Ólafsson, Alice Sara Ott, Nadine Sierra, Grigory Sokolov, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang and Krystian Zimerman, as well as Joep Beving, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joe Hisaishi, Agnes Obel and Max Richter. In addition, the label’s catalogue represents the cultural legacy of whole generations of maestri and features recordings from many of the finest artists in music history, including Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Vladimir Horowitz, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Maurizio Pollini, Mstislav Rostropovich and Andrés Segovia. Learn more at www.deutschegrammophon.com.