Romanian Cultural Institute in London

✨ A wonderful celebration of Brâncuși at 150 years since his birth at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall last night!

Five new orchestral works inspired by Brâncuși’s sculptures and commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra premiered to great public success in London. Guided by composer in residence, Sir George Benjamin – an admirer of Brâncuși himself – five young musicians created new works, taking inspiration from Brâncuși’s philosophy of clean forms and „the very essence of objects”.

🎼The composers are: Michael Taplin, Margot Pommellet, George Stevenson, Edward Mascall-Robson and Seyoung Oh. The whole project started with an in-depth seminar led by Dr Jonathan Vernon, who specialises in modern art and Brâncuși.

Evocatively titled Beginning of the World, Étude pour un oiseau de bronze (In memoriam Brâncuși), Socle, Léda, and Arcus, the compositions succeeded in bringing to the fore a powerful contemporary music translation of Brâncuși’s visionary art.

A huge thank you to the musicians of the LPO Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme and to the LPO players who delivered a seamless performance under the baton of William Cole.

We are grateful to our Ambassador, HE Mrs. Laura Popescu and to Andrei Luca, Director of the Directorate for Cultural Diplomacy, Education and Science at / Ministerul Afacerilor Externe/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Romania, for joining us at this landmark concert.

It was a glorious evening with exciting new music, a testament to Brâncuși’s enduring legacy. The Romanian Cultural Institute in London was delighted to support this initiative as part of our Brâncuși150 Season, which celebrates 150 years since the birth of our great sculptor.

Photography by Alex Coman

🎹🇷🇴 A historic moment for Romanian music in the United Kingdom!

Romanian Cultural Institute in London is proud to celebrate the historic BBC Proms debut of the internationally acclaimed Romanian-British pianist Alexandra Dariescu at the iconic Royal Albert Hall. 🌟

Recognised worldwide for her expressive artistry, dazzling virtuosity and her dedication to championing underrepresented voices in classical music, Alexandra will perform alongside The Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Kahchun Wong, in the Proms premiere of Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra by the remarkable French composer Nadia Boulanger. 🎼🎹

This is a truly historic achievement: Alexandra Dariescu becomes the first female pianist of Romanian origin ever to perform at the BBC Proms. 🇷🇴👏

Wednesday 5 August, 6:00 pm
Royal Albert Hall
More information and details on booking in comments.

🎶Five young composers and a unique source of inspiration - the works of sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, celebrated at 150 years since his birth!

Michael Taplin, Margot Pommellet, George Stevenson, Edward Mascall-Robson, and Seyoung Oh worked under the mentorship of London Philharmonic Orchestra Composer-in-Residence Sir George Benjamin to deliver five unforgettable new works.

You can hear them tomorrow at Southbank's Queen Elizabeth Hall, performed by LPO Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme, alongside LPO players, conducted by William Cole.

For details about the concert and to book tickets, follow the link in comments!

For more than a decade, the vibrant festival held in the enchanting Transylvanian village of Richiș, Romania, has been known as the Transylvanian Book Festival. But those who have experienced it know that it has always been about far more than books.

This year, the festival, founded by art historian Lucy Abel Smith, embraces the name it has long deserved: the Transylvanian Arts Festival.

From 3–6 September 2026, the Târnava Valley region once again becomes a meeting place for writers, historians, musicians, artists and curious minds from around the world. Expect captivating conversations on literature, history and politics, alongside unforgettable music, remarkable local food and wine, extraordinary Saxon heritage, and the kind of friendships that only seem to happen in places as special as Richiș.

This year's programme features art historian Shona Kallestrup, botanist John Akeroyd, BBC Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe, Nicholas de Roumanie Medforth-Mills and historian Richard Bassett, to name but a few. A highlight of the festival will be the concert by Schola Cantorum Transsylvaniensis in the magnificent fortified church of Richiș, beneath the recently revealed Last Judgement mural dating from the turn of the sixteenth century.

The Transylvanian Arts Festival is not simply an event. It is an invitation to slow down, discover one of Europe's most captivating cultural landscapes, and celebrate the arts in all their forms.

📍 Transylvania, Romania
📅 3–6 September 2026

For more details and tickets please go to: https://realityandbeyond.co.uk/transylvanian-arts-festival/

It’s a joy to highlight 'The Shape of Flight', an installation by Romanian fashion designer Flavia Nistor, presented as part of the Royal College of Art’s MA Fashion Expo 2026.

Drawing from Constantin Brâncuși’s search for the pure essence of form, the project explores the élan of flight through dynamic shapes, reduction of form and the moment just before take-off, when tension is held and the body prepares to break away.

Combining engineered metal structures with stretch textiles, Flavia Nistor creates garments that embody suspension, compression and the desire to rise above constraint, while offering a contemporary reflection on Romanian cultural identity. In her own words: “As a cultural designer, I use fashion to reinterpret Eastern European and Romanian heritage beyond folkloric or nostalgic representation. In this context, flight becomes a metaphor for verticality, drawing from Romanian references such as the wooden churches of Maramureș (among the tallest wooden churches in the world) and the idea of the axis mundi, where vertical form connects earth and sky. It is not a romantic escape, but a movement of agency and visibility shaped by histories of cultural constraint.”

📍 Royal College of Art, Kensington
📅 16–18 July 2026
🕛 12:00–20:00

Follow Flavia's work: .nistor.portfolio

Romanian-born, London-based artist Cristina Schek presents 'Her Court', her first museum-scale mixed-media installation, at Wimbledon Museum as part of the Young Masters exhibition project 'Her Court: The Role Wimbledon Played in the Suffragette Movement'.

Selected through the Young Masters Art Prize Open Call, the installation centres on a 150-year-old Victorian Carver chair, transforming a symbol of domestic authority into a seat for women's memory, visibility and resistance.

The installation brings together digitally printed velvet, a ceremonial sash, lace portraits of Wimbledon suffragette Rose Lamartine Yates and Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, references to the Holloway Prison brooch held in Wimbledon Museum’s collection, and a hidden vintage-style radio playing an original spoken-word sound work. Presented during Wimbledon fortnight, Her Court also draws on the striking overlap between the purple, white and green of The Championships and the colours of the Suffragette movement.

The ball is, quite literally, in 'Her Court'.

On view until 11 July 2026
Wimbledon Museum, Norman Plastow Gallery
Open daily, 11am to 5pm
Free admission