The Queen and the Composers
Thu 22 Oct
|1 Belgrave Square
Join us for an evening of music, poetry and discovery, exploring the remarkable cultural world of Queen Elisabeth of Romania – Carmen Sylva!
Time & Location
22 Oct 2026, 19:00 – 21:00
1 Belgrave Square, 1 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH, UK
About the event
Marking 110 years since the death of Queen Elisabeth of Romania, known in the literary world under the pen name Carmen Sylva, The Queen and the Composers explores her poetry, her profound connection with music and the important role she played in Romanian and European cultural life. Conceived by soprano Rodica Vică, the evening brings together live performance, historical research and multimedia, tracing the musical afterlife of Carmen Sylva’s poetry from George Enescu to a new generation of Romanian composers.
A prolific writer and influential patron of the arts, Queen Elisabeth inspired hundreds of songs by composers including George Enescu, Hans Sommer, Felix Weingartner, August Bungert and Agathe Backer Gröndahl. Much of this repertoire, largely written in German, is rarely heard today. The programme brings part of this musical legacy back to the stage while placing it in dialogue with the present through new works by Andrei Petrache and Radu Mihalache, written to poems…