My guest this evening is Răzvan Rădos, conductor of the Radio Children's Choir. Welcome back to the Radio România Muzical studio, Răzvan!

It's good to see you, and thank you for the invitation!

Răzvan, since we are approaching the end of this year, I am tempted to ask you how 2025 was for the Radio Children's Choir, especially since we are talking about an anniversary year - it has been 80 years since this ensemble was founded.

That's right, it was a busy year, just as we wanted and expected. It is the 80th year since conductor Ion Vanica founded this school of singing and personal development through music, as we like to say.

The Radio Children's Choir has made over 30 public appearances this year. Some of them were of great international importance, cultural diplomacy, others of great importance to the Romanian public, because there is no such thing as a concert with little importance, as we and the children know. And we were very happy to be able to celebrate this wonderful choir in two anniversary concerts at home on the stage of the Radio Hall together with its former members, who flew in from all over the world to be in this hall. It is a special moment, any anniversary of the Radio Children's Choir, just like any choral anniversary is a special moment. In this world of choirs, we rejoice with all our hearts, and we do well.

We had a wonderful experience in Bulgaria by participating in a religious music festival with a group from the Radio Children's Choir, and also had a very important moment in the Youth Festival in Basel, Switzerland. This happened in May with absolute joy, satisfaction, and a certain amount of pride, as we've met some of Europe's top ensembles in this field, and I believe that we represented both what we do here at the radio station and Romanian culture in general with dignity.

In addition to these anniversary concerts, you also launched a concept show this year, didn't you? "Song for the Earth".

That's right. This "Song for the Earth" is a special show conceived by our colleague from the Sound Foundation, Camelia Ducaru. We consulted with Mr. Voicu Popescu, who is my mentor and whom we now call the magician of the Radio Children's Choir, that we had to find a title for this maestro who has dedicated three decades of his life to our ensemble. I was saying that the three of us - Camelia Ducaru, Voicu Popescu, and myself - discussed it and put together a concert programme to communicate to the younger generation the importance of nature, the importance of connecting with nature, the importance of caring for all the ecological and natural values. You see, throughout Europe and around the world, efforts are being made to raise awareness, and we thought that choral music is a good tool for conveying this important message from the heart, especially when it is accompanied by beautiful visual images created by a team of directors.

Răzvan, how was 2025 for you, as a conductor and musician?

I joke with the children and say that we didn't get to talk about anything because we only said hello and rehearsed a lot.

Only recently we've started talking and started to realize how full this first part of the year has been - basically the last season -, and to lay the foundations for new projects, because we can never sit still, of course. We have lists with concert themes we want to do that should last until 2029. This never ends, and I'm glad it's that way. I confess that I was intimidated by this succession of themed concerts when I took over the Radio Children's Choir from maestro Voicu Popescu, because I thought I wouldn't come up with any ideas. It's not necessarily about me, because the ideas don't come just from me, they come from all the members of the Radio Children's Choir. We consult each other and it's a team effort.

Artistic excellence and tradition, talent incubator, renowned conductors, these are some of the things that define the Radio Children's Choir. How do you see the future? We mentioned Voicu Popescu, who was the conductor of the Radio Children's Choir before you. How do you see the future of this ensemble?

Simple and complicated at the same time, in the sense that I believe our choir must continue its work of promoting choral excellence in Romania and being a model of what a children's choir should be - and I would say not just for Romania. At the same time, our inspiration comes from our travels and engaging in cultural exchanges by drawing inspiration from the world's leading ensembles. So, all of the international numbers and extraordinary performances at home are based on all the means of expression that we've gathered from all across the world by paying attention to our surroundings.

The Radio Children's Choir has a consistent sound, despite knowing that this type of ensemble is volatile. Children grow up, boys change their voices from a certain age and leave this type of ensemble. How do you manage to maintain this consistent sound? It's very important to know!

The pianist for the Radio Children's Choir named Magdalena Faur, who was a member of the Radio Children's Choir in the past and who has this sound ingrained in her soul and very well established. I wouldn't say that it's been an identical sound over the decades, but there is this culture of a very well-educated sound. We practice with the children in the Choir School workshop, which basically is the official nursery of the Radio Children's Choir. We practice how to produce a sound through the nose, then through the mouth, how to round a sound so that it ends up having real artistic value. And a singing school has taken shape over time. Unfortunately, the Radio Children's Choir cannot accept many members, just about five new members annually. It's a tight concurrence, I admit. I've always said that it's difficult to get into this concert formula just based on talent and hard work. And then, those five voices are quickly assimilated and raised to the level they need to be and sent on the stage. Our interest is for every child to get on stage, but not just any way, but rather rigorously prepared so that they can cope psychologically, physically, and artistically.

You make selections for the Choir School on an ongoing basis. I have noticed this. We have a large audience, and I am sure that some of our listeners would like to know what qualities are required of those who aspire to join the Choir School?

I would like to say that we do not start the choir school with the idea that all members will become members of the Radio Children's Choir, but rather that it is this openness that the Radio Children's Choir has towards children in Bucharest and beyond for the children who are coming to the choir school. There is this public material that the Radio Children's Choir offers to children. So, the children have no obligation. At the same time, we do not commit that all members of the choir school workshop will become members of the Radio Children's Choir. And we combine play with singing a lot at the school. There are many songs which are games.

For a child to become a member of the choir school workshop, they must demonstrate what we call obvious talent at the auditions. I say this because a group of nearly 70 children, which is roughly the number at the choir school, makes us unable to work individually with each. If a child needs to grow individually, we are unable to work with them individually enough for them to develop quickly. And so, when a child does not manage to enter the choir school workshop, we warmly recommend individual instrument or singing lessons, or vocal initiation at any age as it's called nowadays, and we look forward to seeing them. After six months or a year, they really have a chance to join this workshop where we don't just make music, we work on diction, spatial orientation, social education, choreography, sometimes theatre. We sometimes mix them up, because the goal of the choir school is not necessarily to produce choir singers, but to introduce children to the art of performance.

The Radio Children's Choir poster appears showcasing carols for a Christmas Concert. We know that from here on, the winter holidays season begins at the Radio Hall. What are you offering the public this year? A concept show, a classical concert? Please give us some details, at least.

Sure, Christmas concerts are a combination. They are not a concept in themselves, but neither are they a classical concert in which we play one piece after another. I would like to say from the start that this year there are not many well-known carols in the hall's programme. We decided to try this option this year. However, the interpretations of lesser-known pieces in the Romanian choral space, and the big leaps from Ioan D. Chirescu and Paul Constantinescu to Michael Engelhardt or other international composers will be the delight of this concert. Because we've ignored the clear stylistic barriers and made some transitions so that surprise would be the basis of the concert.

I understand that you will also have some guests on stage alongside Magdalena Faur on piano, right?

Of course, my colleague Magdalena Faur is present at every concert along with me. We are a team. And we have Iasmina Topală, Robert Ispășoiu, and Ștefan Ailenei as guests on percussion. Two of them, Iasmina Topală and Robert Ispășoiu, are long-time collaborators of the choir, who are also present in the pop-rock show and other shows of the Radio Children's Choir. They have demonstrated not only their artistic value, but also their closeness to our ensemble. I admit that I am moved when the Children's Choir's collaborators are teenagers or young people who are just starting out in this field and who enjoy singing on the stage of the Radio Hall alongside our choir, who take this role very seriously and with great commitment. It seems to me that these collaborations say everything about the spirit of our choir.

Who will be responsible for the program's cohesion, so to speak?

Thank you! As usual, Ms. Delia Nartea will help us move from one segment to another, because the pieces are grouped together. She prepares some texts that surprise us every year, because she shows us how Christmas is like in different places or draws parallels between these distant places and Romanian traditions. The audience enjoys these speeches, and I admit that I have started to stand backstage with my ear pricked up to hear these wonderful stories which she tells us.

I hope I have piqued the curiosity of Radio România Muzical listeners. I would like to ask: are there any leftover tickets available for the concert on Saturday?

Unfortunately, they are sold out. I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to the Radio Children's Choir's spring concert on April 25^th, 2026. I think it is worth mentioning on air that we would like to thank the public for loving us, as well as having the tickets sold out so quickly. Also, we should let the public know to always buy tickets for the Radio Children's Choir in advance, because there will be surprises to match that makes you leave Radio Children's Choir concerts feeling uplifted, as we all know.

You mentioned the spring concert. Can you give us some details about this event?

Yes, because I have been working on it for almost a year and it is one of the most important projects for me, and I hope it will be for the public as well. It is a project for which I have researched, worked with institutions, dug through archives, scoured the Institute of Folklore and other places to uncover gems of traditional Romanian music. The show will be called "Marile Treceri" (The Great Passages) and will show how people passed from childhood to adulthood, then to old age, and how they transformed throughout their lives through song, music, and tradition within the ancestral Romanian society.

Very interesting! So, ladies and gentlemen, you can purchase tickets for the upcoming Radio Children's Choir concert...

Soon.

Soon, yes. They are not on sale yet, of course. Thank you for being here, Răzvan. Good luck! May you receive applause from your audience instead of breads and nuts!

Thank you very much!