RAMONA MITRICA September 1967 - February 2024
The Foundation supports the 20th Romanian Film Festival in London 30 November - 4 December 2023
ONE WHOLE NIGHT at The White Bear Theatre, Kennington, London. 21 November - 2 December 2023
The Foundation supports the publication of Ludovic Bruckstein's The Fate of Yaakov Maggid October 2023
The Romanian Film Festival in London November 2022
Transylvanian Book Festival September 2022
Pianist Alexandra Dariescu announces a busy season Autumn and Winter 2022
Belvedere by Romanian playwright Ana-Maria Bamberger opens in London 2 -13 November 2021  Ana Maria Bamberger (born in Bucharest in 1966) is a Romanian playwright who lives in Germany where she is also a practising doctor. She studied playwriting with Stephen Jeffreys at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and has collaborated with the National Theatre Bucharest. her plays have been produced internationally, notably in Prague and New York City. Belvedere is being staged at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington London with financial support from the Foundation. Click here for more information and the theatre's website Romanian Film Festival in London 21-25 October 2021 
Images are from : Uppercase Print, 2020 director Radu Jude (above)
and Ivana the Terrible, 2019 director Ivana Mladenovic (below)  The Foundation has sponsored the excellent Romanian Film Festival In London for many years. After a year out because of the pandemic the festival is back and the Foundation is delighted to again support this worthwhile celebration of Romanian creativity.
The Festival showcases the talents of Award-winning Romanian filmmakers, directors and actors. Film screenings will be at the Curzon Soho Cinema. New book on the important female Dada figure Céline Arnauld Summer 2020  From the publishers’ description... The poet Céline Arnauld (1885-1952) was at the heart of Paris Dada. Her experimental texts appeared in the most prominent avant-garde journals and she published almost a dozen books. Yet Arnauld predicted as early as 1924 that she would be written out of history and, having found herself isolated, took her own life in 1952. Her story is one of an individual with an elusive identity – she was a Jewish émigrée, born Carolina Goldstein in Romania – who left behind a body of work rich in innovation. In this study, Ruth Hemus conveys the pleasure of discovering this neglected figure and her inventive writing. Charting one woman’s navigation of the avant-garde over a thirty-year period (1918-1948), she sets out a quest for an autonomous poetry that Arnauld herself called ‘ultra-modern.’ Ruth Hemus is a Senior Lecturer in French and Visual Arts at Royal Holloway University. 
click photo to enlarge In her new book The Poetry of Céline Arnauld the academic and author Ruth Hemus charts the poetic career of the undervalued female Dadaiste. Ruth Hemus is a friend of the Foundation, she has over many years done important work on Dada and the role of women in that movement.
Céline Arnauld is shown here in a photo owned by the Foundation, seated between Tristan Tzara (front left) and Francis Picabia.
Please follow this link to details of the new book:
Romanian Film Festival in London 24 -28 October 2019  Still from The Whistlers/La Gomera Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu  Still from One Step behind the Seraphim directed by Daniel Sandu
The Foundation has sponsored the excellent Romanian Film Festival In London for many years and this 15th festival has the theme Fragments of Truth.
Five films will be shown showcasing the talents of Award-winning Romanian filmmakers, directors and actors.
Film screenings are in the Curzon Soho Cinema. Please visit the Festival website for details; http://www.rofilmfest.com You can view the programme as a PDF here RFF2019 trailer from Romanian Film Festival London on Vimeo. Launch event for The Trap at Conway Hall 26 September 2019 
Alfred Bruckstein’s address at the launch of The Trap, written by his father
Istros Books launched Ludovic Bruckstein’s book The Trap on the 26th September in the beautiful library at Conway Hall, London.
The well-attended event was sponsored by the Foundation. Alfred Bruckstein, the Author’s son, came for the occasion from Israel and gave a touching address on his father’s life and work.
There was a dramatic reading from the book by the actor Filip Krenus Publication of The Trap by Ludovic Bruckstein Autumn 2019 
Ludovic Bruckstein The Foundation is sponsoring the publication by Istros Books in September 2019 of The Trap by Ludovic Bruckstein
The Trap and The Rag Doll are two novellas by the Romanian writer Ludovic Bruckstein, that have remained undiscovered for many years. Now his son has brought together the collected works of his father, revealing a rich world of Jewish culture from the Maramureș region of nothern Romania. Both narratives are concerned with extraordinary stories of survival and struggle within this multicultural region during the time of Nazi occupation.
Bruckstein was born in Munkacs (then in Czochoslovakia, now Ukraine) but grew up in the Hassidic community of Sighet, Transylvania. Bruckstein’s father owned a small factory, and the family were traditionally Hassidic rabbis and writers. In 1944 the family were deported to Auschwitz, Bruckstein was then transferred to Bergen-Belzen and subsequently a series of forced labour camps. He returned to Sighet in 1945 where he found the only other survivor in his family, his brother Israel. His plan to move to Palestine had not come to fruition when the Iron Curtain fell. Bruckstein wrote plays in Yiddish and journalism for Yiddish newspapers and studied literature at Bucharest University, where he started to write short stories, before returning to Sighet. Twenty of his plays were staged, some were translated and performed in other Eastern Bloc countries. After years spent struggling to emigrate to Israel with his family, in 1972 he was finally successful. Between 1972 and his death in 1988 Bruckstein published seven books, a combination of novels, novellas and short stories.  Alexandra Dariescu World Tour Winter/Spring 2019 
Alexandra Dariescu The celebrated Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu visited 13 venues worldwide in late 2018 and early 2019 with her The Nutcracker and I World Tour, working with the ballerina Désirée Ballantyne. The performance, based on Tchaikovsky’s great ballet, is an arrangement for piano, ballerina and digital animation. During the tour Dariescu was also Playing repertoire including works by Enescu, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich. Venues included eight European concert halls, and cities in The UAE, China and Australia.
Autumn 2018 
Greta Gasser The Foundation is giving a grant towards the purchase of a piano to the prize-winning Romanian pianist and piano teacher Greta Gasser. Greta studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, after her initial training in Romania, and is based in Manchester. She has given many UK recitals, playing at venues including Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall and St. Martin’s in the Fields London. Greta played the piano in the 2016 ITV Series Victoria as a hand double for the actress Jenna Coleman who portrayed the young queen. 25 January 2018
We are sad to note the passing of a friend, colleague and long-time correspondent of Mia Prodan. 
The Romanian philosopher and historian Neagu Djuvara died on the 25th of January 2018, at the age of 101. Djuvara became a Doctor of law in Paris in 1940 and gained his Ph.D. in philosophy in Paris in 1972. Djuvara’s father was of Aromanian (Vlach) stock. His mother was the last surviving member of the ancient, aristocratic, Romanian Gradisteanu family. Djuvara left Romania in 1944 with a diplomatic mission in Stockholm and lived in exile for 45 years until the Romanian revolution in 1989, when he returned to his country. In Paris after the Second World War he was the secretary of the Commitee of Assistance for Romanian Refugees. He later spent 23 years in in North West Africa, in Niamey, Niger, as a diplomatic advisor. On his return to Bucharest in 1989 he became associate-professor at the University of Bucharest, until 1998. He wrote over 20 books of philosophy, history and memoirs. His book Civilisations and Historical Laws. Essay of Comparative Studies on Civilizations, published in Paris in 1975, received an award from the Academie Francaise. Wednesday, 13 April, 2016
Eliade after Eliade - 7pm / RCI London / 1 Belgrave Square 
One of the greatest names of Romanian culture and a seminal historian of religions, Mircea Eliade is this year’s focus of the Romanian programme at the London Book Fair. Original and encyclopaedic, considered as a Renaissance-like character in the range of his scientific and artistic ambitions, the great writer was one of the most influential academics and literary figures in interwar Romania before becoming the revered international scholar and mentor. To mark the English publication of Eliade’s first novel, ‘Diary of a Short-Sighted Adolescent’ by Istros Books, Professors Sorin Alexandrescu, Florin Țurcanu and Bryan Rennie together with translator Christopher Moncrieff and editor Susan Curtis-Kojakovic meditate on the cultural legacy and contemporary relevance of the legendary author. 12 December 2015
Charity Concert in aid of the Pianoforte Music School in Bucharest. At St. Emmanuel Church, Manchester.  Full flyer here (PDF) 13 November - 16 December 2014
Romanian Film Festival in London 
The Foundation has once again sponsored the Romanian Film Festival which opens at The Curzon Soho Cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue, London on Thursday 13th November. This is the eleventh anniversary of the festival, which has built an notable reputation as a leader in Romanian cinema. For a full programme and further details see www.rofilmfest.com November, December 2013.
Acclaim for The Romanian Film Festival in London There are times when you get caught out at Cannes. I remember one year considering whether to go to a small Romanian film in the competition or a party organised by a generous PR company. Together with a whole group of others, I decided on the party. Unfortunately the small Romanian film turned out to be Cristian Mungiu’s brilliantly performed abortion drama, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, and it won the Palme d’Or. We should have been a bit more alert, since the year before Cristi Puiu’s even more extraordinary The Death of Mr Lazarescu, about a sick old drunk pushed from pillar to post from one hospital to another until he dies, won the prize for the best film outside the competition. But I guess some of us thought that was a one-off, the quality of which was not likely to be repeated. How wrong we were. A stream of terrific Romanian movies, made for very little money and using a comparatively small pool of acting and technical talent, announced the New Romanian cinema to the world. This year Calin Peter Netzer’s Child’s Pose, winner of Berlin’s Golden Bear and just shown in London, was the latest example. So we should all be careful not to miss the 10th Romanian Film Festival, which opened last night at the Curzon Soho and continues over the weekend with a programme of UK premieres. I am most anxious to see Sunday’s When Evening Falls on Bucharest Or Metabolism by Corneliu Porumboiu, whose two earlier films, 12.08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective, were very good. Tonight there’s the wonderfully titled I Am an Old Communist Hag, about a provincial couple whose daughter arrives back home from Canada to put the cat among the pigeons. Every time a young British director complains about how hard it is to make movies in the UK, I suggest he takes a look at the six films included in this festival and considers the quality of Romania’s New Wave, where financial or cultural assistance is practically nil. Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard, 29th November 2013 28 November - 2 December 2013
Romanian Film Festival in London 
The Foundation has once again sponsored the Romanian Film Festival which opens at The Curzon Soho Cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue, London on 28th November. This is the tenth anniversary of the festival, which has built an impressive reputation at the forefront of Romanian cinema. See the full flyer here (PDF). For a full programme and further details see www.rofilmfest.com
30th January 2013
On Wednesday January 30th Dorin Tuca, the young Romanian violinist, will be performing Mendelsohn's piano Trio at St Dunstan-in-the-West Church in Fleet Street, London EC4. Dorin Tuca recital in London The 45 minute, lunch-time concert starts at 1-15 p.m. All are welcome. Click here for a link to St. Dunstan's website: http://www.stdunstaninthewest.org/services-and-events 22 - 25 November 2012
Romanian Film Festival in London 
The Foundation has sponsored the November 2012 Romanian Film Festival at the Renoir Cinema in Bloomsbury London.
 Victor Brauner, To My Beloved Saşa Pană, 1930. Collection Vladimir Pană
11 November 2011
From Dada to Surrealism Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania The Jewish Avant-Garde Artists from Romania exhibition has transferred from Amsterdam to The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Click here to see the invitation for the opening as a PDF
Foundation supports the brilliant young Romanian violinist, Dorin Tuca
The Foundation is pleased to be supporting the brilliant young Romanian violinist, Dorin Tuca, to obtain ABRSM teaching qualifications at Manchester. Victor Brauner, To My Beloved Saşa Pană, 1930. Collection Vladimir Pană
A magnificent survey exhibition of Jewish avant-garde artists from Romania will open at the Jewish Historical Museum (JHM) on 1 June 2011: From Dada to Surrealism, with more than seventy works of art from the period 1910-1938. Most of these works have never been on display before in the Netherlands, or anywhere outside Romania. For full details see www.jhm.nl/current/exhibitions/romania
April 2010 - Foundation Makes Possible Publication of
The Portugal Journal by Mircea Eliade by the State University of New York Press
Eliade served as a diplomat for his country for several years. His journal kept during World War II when he was posted in Lisbon at the Romanian Legation has been translated from the Romanian by Professor Mac Linscott Ricketts, and is published in April 2010 by the State University of New York (SUNY) Press in the USA. This publication has been subsidised by the Prodan Foundation, to enable translations of key primary source documents of the period, which have never before been made public, to be included. Eliade’s journal and papers for this period fill a hole in our knowledge of the secret political, diplomatic, and espionage intrigues taking place in Lisbon during the Second World War. All historians of the period will find this material useful, and Eliade enthusiasts will be fascinated to learn of the author and scholar’s intimate involvement in such exciting events of his time.
Madalina Rusu got through to the final of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, whichwas on Saturday 14th of March, at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings, East Sussex at 6pm. She played the Grieg Concerto with the Sussex Concert Orchestra. 
Romanian Orthodox service in Shettlestone Old Parish Church, Glasgow
The first dedicated Romanian Orthodox Church in Britain was inaugurated on Sunday 18th January 2009 in Glasgow. The Foundation made a contribution to this excellent venture.The grand opening was a concert of Byzantine music in the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Metropolitan Joseph Pop, who flew in from Romania for the occasion.
26th of November 1pm, lunchtime recital at Chappell's of Bond Street, Schubert - 4 Impromptus op.90, Rachmaninoff - Corelli Variations, and Liszt - Mephisto Waltz. Madalina Rusu performed a recital of Rachmaninoff 1st Piano Concerto at the Family Concert at the Fairfield Hall on 15th of November 2008 Madalina gave the lunch time recital at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church Trafalgar Square, in London on Monday October 20th, 2008.  Madalina Rusu, Brancusi Music Award 2008
The Prodan Foundation has recently awarded Madalina Rusu The Brancusi Music Award 2008. She was recommended to the Foundation for an award by Stephen Walsh, former music critic for the London Observer, as she recently came second in a British competition of which he was judge. After hearing Madalina’s recordings of Rachmaninoff, her extraordinary talent was easily recognised. Madalina was born in Romania in 1985 and started to play the piano at the age of 8. From 2000 to 2004 she attended the National Academy of Music in Bucharest, and since 2004 has studied at the Guildhall School in London, where she has now commenced work towards her Masters Degree.  22/09/2008 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/09/22/bagergiev122.xml   Adolfo Barabino receiving applause after his recital
The Foundation sponsored a recital by the talented Italian pianist Adolfo Barabino on Sunday 20th April at Hever Castle in Kent. The programme included Dinu Lipatti’s Second Nocturne and his transcription of Bach’s ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’, both being First British Performances of these pieces. Details of the recital may be downloaded here. Adolfo Barabino recital (Jpeg file, 235KB) The Foundation has supported the Mihai Eminescu Trust with their restoration programme. We are delighted they have won this award for their excellent heritage conservation work. Eminescu Press Release (Word document, 120KB)   "Such competence and passion provoke my unconditional praise. A young musician of great talent." Aldo Ciccolini The Later Art of the Fugue : An Exploration A pre-concert talk was given by Prof. Robert Temple at 6.45pm in the Bechstein Room. The concert was sponsored by the Prodan Romanian Cultural Foundation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stefano Greco studied piano under the guidance of Antonio Serrano and graduated with full marks at the "Tito Schipa" Conservatory in Lecce, Italy. He has been awarded prizes in numerous national and international piano competitions. In 1994, he studied with Hector Pell, at the Accademia Superiore "G. Curci" in Barletta. From 1995 to 1998 he attended the Triennial International Master of Piano Performance and Technique at the Accademia "A.Ciccolini" in Trinitapoli, with Aldo Ciccolini, during which time Greco gave lectures at the Academy on "The Mechanics of Piano Technique", "The Golden Section", "Proportions" and "Bach's Polyphony". He graduated from the Accademia "A.Ciccolini" with full marks, Summa Cum Laude and Honourable Mention. His extensive repertoire includes Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and all of Chopin's Etudes. In 2001, he made a concert tour in the United States of America, Canada and Japan, where he made his debut in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, such as the Alice Tully Hall, in New York's Lincoln Center, and the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo. More recently he has performed throughout Europe, in the Middle East and returned to North America and Japan. Future engagements include recitals in Italy and South America. Stefano Greco has recorded J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations on the Phoenix classics label.
"Elegant and spirited, his performance was a joy to hear. While following Bach's score with upmost integrity, Greco's own personality and take on this music were both striking and intriguing: one would hope that he will return to present the full set sometime soon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Programme Bach - Trans. in D minor of J S Bach's Violin Sonata No.2 in A minor BWV964 (Trans. W F Bach) Interval Programme front cover and order of performance (PDF - 0.3MB) Two articles were written by Stefano Greco and Robert Temple to be included in the printed programme. These articles concerned the Fugue and can be viewed here: Concerning the Fugue by Stefano Greco (PDF - 0.2MB) The Philosophy of the Fugue by Robert Temple (PDF - 0.5MB)
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Dear Friends, 
)
The Foundation sponsored the 2009 Romanian Film Festival held in London from May 1st to May 4th at the Curzon Cinema Mayfair. The Festival was organised by The Ratiu Foundation, The Romanian Cultural Centre in London, The National Centre of Cinematography in Bucharest (CNC) and The Curzon Cinema Group.
