The Restitutio Cantemir project in Berlin

The RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR project also arrived in Germany on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in the Otto Braun Hall of the Berlin State Library.

The event enjoyed the presence of H.E. Mrs. Adriana-Loreta STĂNESCU , Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania in the Federal Republic of Germany, the special guest of the evening dr. hc Gunter STOCK , former President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Mr. Cristian NICULESCU , Director of ICR Berlin and Mrs. Codruța MIHAILOVICI , curator of the RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR Exhibition.

More than 200 people had the pleasure of visiting the photo-documentary exhibition with images from documents and artifacts from the period of Dimitrie Cantemir's life, more precisely from the 17th-18th centuries, organized by the National Archives of Romania, in partnership with the Romanian Academy, the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and the National Museum of Romanian Literature.

The RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR exhibition includes reproductions of the main Cantemir works, literary writings, including musical manuscripts, map reproductions, stamps and validation marks (seals) covering both the period of Prince Cantemir's stay in Istanbul, the years of his reign on the Moldavian throne, as well as the period of refuge in Russia.

The concert of the "Anton Pann" Chamber Ensemble of Early Music was opened by the speech of HE Mrs. Adriana-Loreta STĂNESCU , Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Romania to the Federal Republic of Germany, followed by a short presentation of the RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR Project by Mr. Constantin RĂILEANU , the President of the Association for Culture and Tradition "Anton Pann", which was translated into German by Mr. Cristian NICULESCU , Director of ICR Berlin.

The audience was fascinated by the 7 musical compositions performed, which are known with certainty to have been created by Dimitrie Cantemir. The compositions are taken from his work "Book of the Science of Music according to the form of letters" and are sonically contextualized with the help of the musician-researchers from the "Anton Pann" Ensemble and guest musicians from the USA, Canada, Turkey and Lebanon.

The uniqueness of the show was given by the use of period-specific instruments and interpretation, along with the holographic video-projection of Prince Dimitrie Cantemir , who "personally" presented his musical creations.

At the end of the concert, the applause, which lasted for whole minutes, recalled the 8 artists to the stage, who offered the audience a piece that was not included in the original repertoire.

The RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR project will continue in Brussels, on May 22, 2023, 18:00, M Hall, BOZAR.

On the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the birth of the great man of culture and prince of Moldova, Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), Computerland Romania, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute , organizes the RESTITUTIO CANTEMIR Project, which emphasizes both the academic side, as well as the cultural one of the encyclopedic personality of Dimitrie Cantemir.

Project Partners: Romanian Academy, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Romanian Cultural Institute, National Museum of Romanian Literature, National Archives of Romania, Anton Pann Association for Culture and Tradition, Iași City Hall, National Athenaeum of Iași, Metropolis of Moldova and Bucovina, Society Romanian Television, Radio Romania, Trinitas TV, Software Imagination & Vision (SIMAVI), Prodal 94, Carpatina and Romfilatelia.

The project is registered in the Events Calendar of the Ministry of Culture, which also accepted its patronage. The organization of the project tries to reflect the encyclopedic dimension of Dimitrie Cantemir's life and work.

More images promoting the Project can be downloaded by accessing the link: https://shorturl.at/cdTW3

About the Anton Pann Early Music Chamber Ensemble

The Anton Pann Ensemble (est. 2003), named after the 19th-century Wallachian composer Anton Pann, is the first and only professional group in Romania that has chosen as its mission the rediscovery of the beauty of old Romanian music and sharing it, with joy, to the public, generating a revitalization of this repertoire and subsequently a stream of inspiration for other groups.

The rediscovery and promotion of music from the Middle Ages until the end of the 19th century, by the Anton Pann Ensemble, aims to increase the cultural value and the Romanian musical tradition. It is the only Romanian ensemble that has recorded, for the first time in the world, all the compositions with definite authorship of ruler Dimitrie Cantemir in a single volume.

As a sign of recognition of their effort and professionalism, the Anton Pann Ensemble was invited to play in the Europalia Festival in 2019, being the representative of Romanian classical court music. During the years of activity, the ensemble performed hundreds of concerts in countries such as: England, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Moldova, Belgium, France, Poland, Germany, Ukraine and at the national level: Bucharest, Timisoara, Brașov, Sibiu, Pitesti, Iasi, Constanta, Galați, Târgu Mureș, Cluj Napoca, Vaslui, Piatra-Neamț, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Focșani, etc.

The musicians who make up the ensemble are professionals in the field, awarded in countless competitions, doctors of music and university professors. All these elements converge to an exceptional concert result.

Composition of the Anton Pann Ensemble: