show category: Concert

OPERA APERTA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2026

On Sunday, 21 June, the International Opera Aperta Festival 2026 presents Ex Occidente Pax: The Stillness of Dusk – Thresholds, a sunset concert performed by the “Icoane” Romanian Traditional Music Ensemble at Bánffy Castle in Răscruci.

The “Icoane” Ensemble was founded out of the desire to recover, preserve, and promote the values of Romanian traditional music. The beginnings of the “Icoane” Group date back to 1995, while the Romanian Traditional Music Ensemble “Icoane”, in its current form, has been active since 1999. The ensemble is trained and conducted by Prof. Ioan Bocșa, PhD, joined in recent years by Lecturer Alina Stan, PhD, and brings together students and graduates of the “Gheorghe Dima” National Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca.

The concert offers an exploration of the Romanian traditional repertoire, with a focus on ritual songs associated with the major rites of passage in human life: birth, military service, marriage, work, and death. These “thresholds” define the repertorial structure of the event and offer the audience an insight into the way music accompanied, within traditional communities, the essential stages of existence.

The concert has no interval and is expected to end around 10:45 PM.

Tickets are available on the bilete.ro platform.

Recommended age: 12+

The International Opera Aperta Festival is organised with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Cluj-Napoca City Hall, the Cluj-Napoca Local Council, the Cluj County Council, and the “Opera 2 You” Association.