NTB Conferences

On Sunday, March 1st, 2020, from 11.00 am, at the NTB Small Hall, Acad. Sabina Ispas will hold the conference with the title March 1st, "Head of Spring". About the conferenceThe month of March, called by Romanians “marţ” or “mărţişor”, originates from the Latin Martius. For areas with mild climate and four seasons, it is the first month of spring. In the Jewish calendar, which we remember in order to have an objective historical perspective on the great holidays in the traditional calendar, the first month, Nisan is March - April, when the Passover holiday is held, between the 15th and 22nd. The holiday that signifies the release from slavery, is a feast of spring, which has ancient connections with agriculture. In the old Romanian calendar, March 1st marks the New Year. The position of March in spring, one of the four seasons characteristic for Romania's climate, prompts us to associate it with the moment of the revitalization of the dormant or numb flora, of the plants’ awakening to life. For the Romanian community, the "vegetal code" is one of the decisive benchmarks for defining cultural identity. Substitutions and analogies are made between the human person and the vegetal element, especially according to the Eucharistic model, by which the blood sacrifice was replaced with that of the processed vegetable: wheat - bread - ring biscuit, grape - wine. Acad. Sabina Ispas About Acad, Sabina IspasMember of the Romanian Academy since 2009, General Director of the "Constantin Brailoiu" Institute of Ethnography and Folklore.Graduate of the Faculty for Romanian Language and Literature of the "Al. I. Cuza” University of Iaşi and the Faculty for Romanian Language and Literature of the University of Bucharest, the folklore specialty.PhD in philological sciences at the Faculty for Foreign Languages ​​of the University of Bucharest.Author or co-author of several specialized books, among which: Love Lyricism. Motivational and Typological Index, vol. IV, 1985 - 1989; Popular Love Lyrics, 1985; White Apple Flowers. From the Poetry of Winter Habits, 1987; The Romanian Epic-Heroic Song in the South-Eastern European context. Songs of Match-Making, 1995; Under the Wing of Heaven, 1998; The Romanian Man, 2000; The Sung Story, 2001; Oral Culture and Transcultural Information, 2003; Siminoc and Busuioc. Romanian Fairy Tales, 2005.She holds several prestigious awards, including: Special jury prize for ethno-anthropological studies, Pitrè-Salomone Marino, of the International Centre for Ethnography, Palermo - Italy (1989) for her work in four volumes Love Lyricism. Motivational and Typological Index; Simion Florea Marian Award of the Romanian Academy (1995) for the work The Epic-HeroicSong in the South-Eastern European context. Songs of Match-Making; Etnos Prize (2000) for the whole activity; The "Constantin Brailoiu" prize of the „Magazin Istoric” Cultural Foundation, offered by Erste Group Immorent Romania IFN SA, (2013) for the work Meanings and Morals of Yore. Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, February 16th, 2020, from 11:00 am, the NTB Black Box Hall will host the conference The Romania to which I Have Returned, a conference held in Romanian by His Excellency Andrew Noble, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bucharest. About the conference“I am very happy to be back in Romania. As you probably know, I stayed in Bucharest for three years, from 1983 to 1986. So I returned to Romania, but I have the impression that I arrived in Romania for the first time. I used to be in socialist Romania, and now it is a different country, with people living very differently from then. Already, in three weeks, I had some experiences that would not have been possible in the three years I spent in Romania.”Andrew Noble at his first press conference as Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Bucharest  About Andrew NobleFrom 2018 Ambassador to Romania2014 - 2017 Ambassador to Algeria2009 - 2013 Berlin, Deputy Head of Mission, Consul-General and Advisor (Political)2007 - 2009 British Foreign Ministry (FCO), Director of the Department for Security and Property2005 - 2007 British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director of the Security Department2001-2005 Athens, Deputy Head of Mission and Consul-General1998 - 2001 British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Director, Department of Security Policy1994 - 1998 Cape Town / Pretoria, Head of the Political Section1991 - 1994 British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Officer, Deputy Chief, Department of Security Coordination1989 - 1991 British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Officer in the Department of the European Community1987 - 1989 Bonn, Secretary II (bilateral relations and foreign policy)1986 - 1987 Seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany1983 - 1986 Bucharest, Secretary III and later II (Politics)1982 Joins the British Foreign Affairs Ministry *Ambassador Noble's career began in Romania in 1983, with his first diplomatic mission outside the UK since his employment with the British Foreign Ministry a year earlier. Andrew Noble spent three years in Communist Romania as a press attaché of the British Embassy, ​​three difficult years in which he suffered from cold, hunger and, above all, from lack of trust among people. As a foreign diplomat, he could not communicate with Romanians - he knew that the few who met and talked with him or other diplomatic colleagues were monitored by the Securitate and had to report the contents of the discussions. Not being able to carry out his diplomatic activity at an optimal level, the current ambassador took advantage of the years spent in Romania to learn the language (which he now speaks impeccably) and learn as much about the country's culture, through readings, but also frequent trips outside the capital, to Bukovina (where he still has a collection of hand-painted Easter eggs), Maramures or Transylvania.Three decades later, in August 2018, and after numerous other diplomatic missions around the world, from Germany, Greece, South Africa and Algeria, Andrew Noble returned to Romania. He discovered a completely transformed country, with a free press and an impressive cultural sector, with a free and active population, who benefit from new opportunities after regaining freedom, with the spectacular collapse of the communist regime, in December 1989. He discovered an appealing country from a commercial point of view, with extremely well trained professionals, with high IT and language skills. He was impressed by its key institutions created in such a short time, which oversees the respect of democracy and the safety of citizens, and the civic spirit of this people, regained, step by step, over the last 30 years. But in particular, he rediscovered the people and the close ties of Romanians with the British, in the area of charity, culture, education, business or simply the strong bonds of friendship or kinship between the people of the two countries."The Romania to which I Have Returned" is beautiful, bright and, above all, human! It is altered and impressive! It is strong, positive, and above all, it is free! # 30YearsOfFreedom Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, February 2nd, 2020, from 11.00 am, at the NTB Black Box Hall, Marius Oprea will hold a conference on the topic In search of the lost people. The archeology of the victims of communism in Romania. About the Conference The conference presents, starting from the illustration of particular cases, the activity of searching and finding the remains of those killed without trial by the Securitate in brief executions, as well as of those who died after starvation and torture in the prisons and work camps of the communist regime. This pioneering activity, started by Marius Oprea and his team of archaeologists at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania, created by him in 2005, has led to the burial of over one hundred victims of the regime, some of whom have been returned to families, and others are still waiting for their identification, through DNA tests. Beyond the scientific character or the historical investigation, there is a profound human and Christian meaning, by finding the dead thrown into the common graves, where they were thrown unknowingly and without a cross, and their reburialaccording to ritual. In his lecture, Marius Oprea presents the most impressive moments of the 42 archaeological campaigns carried out during the last 14 years, to identify these people, our lost people, who rise from their graves to show us the true image of communism - the one of death. Marius Oprea About Marius OpreaMarius Oprea (b. 1964 in Târgoviște) studied history at the Bucharest University and is the author of a PhD thesis on the Role and Evolution of the Securitate (1948-1964). He was an advisor to Senator Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, being involved in the elaboration of the SecuritateUncovering Law, and then he was part of the team of advisers of President Emil Constantinescu and Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, on political analysis issues, fighting against corruption and national security. He worked as a journalist for the Cuvântul magazine and was a correspondent for the Free Europe radio station in Bucharest. He created, in December 2005, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, which he led until 2010 and where, at present, he works as the head of the Special Investigation Department.He is the author of numerous articles on the history of the Securitate, but he began by publishing a history of the old Romanian books (Walking on Typography Street, 1996). His articles on the political police in Romania, published in the press, broadcast on the Free Europe radio station, included in the collections of studies and academic publications, were followed by the volume The Platitude of Evil. A History of the Securitate in Documents, 1949-1989 (Polirom, 2002), awarded by the Romanian Publishers Association as the best history book of the year. In the same year, at the same publishing house, he coordinated the volume of The Party's Securitate Members. The PCR Staff as Political Police and published (in collaboration with Stejărel Olaru) A Day That Cannot Be Forgotten. 15 November, Braşov. In 2006, he published at the Humanitas Publishing House the volume of essays Zorba and the Cathedral. 59 Stories from the Border, followed, in the same year, at Polirom Publishing House, by The Face of Death: a Dialogue with Vladimir Bukovsky about the Nature of Communism. In 2008, Humanitas Publishing House released under his signature Zahei's True Journey. V. Voiculescu and the Mystery of the Burning Pyre, and Polirom Publishing House, the monograph The Bastion of Cruelty. A History of Securitate(1948-1964). In 2009, the volume of stories Six Ways of Dying follows, and in 2012, in the National Journal, the True Face of Traian Basescu. He has written four poetry volumes, Trampoline Solo (1999, Paralela 45 Publishing House), America! America! (2008, the Cartea Românească Publishing House), Encounter with the Apostle and Recipe for Happiness (published in 2012 and 2015 at the Grinta Publishing House). He also published TheArab Mafia in Romania. From Ceaușescu to Iliescu (2016, Corint Publishing House), Heirs to the Securitate (2018, second editionrevised and enlarged, Polirom Publishing House) and the novels The Herd of the Silent Shepherd (2016, Polirom Publishing House) and TheUnmatched History of the Romanian Eastern Empire (2017, Polirom Publishing House).He produced, together with Nicolae Mărgineanu, two documentary films, Execution and Four Ways of Dying, reflecting his concern for identifying the remains of those killed by the Security. He made himself known to the wide audience by the actions of unveiling the repressive communist apparatus and his work has been widely shown, the protagonist of the documentary Le chasseur from Securitate, directed by Mirel Bran and Jonas Mercier, and the book La tortura del silenzio. Storia di Marius Oprea, cacciatore dei criminali di regime, written by Guido Barella (2014, Edizioni San Paolo), published in translation in Spain and Romania (at Corint Publishing House). Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

Video--streaming  On Sunday, January 19th, 2020, from 11:00 am, at the NTB Small Hall, Prof. Dr. Dinu Antonescu will hold the conference The Impact of Communism on Romanian Medicine. About the conference In order to assess the impact of communism on Romanian medicine, an analysis of the medical situation from the years leading up to the Second World War is made initially. It is shown that in 80 years, from 1859 to 1940, Romanian medicine experienced an impetuous development, which placed it in the context of European medicine. This meant not only that its teachers and some of the doctors were fully or at least specialized in prestigious European centres, that the healthcare and university were similar to the West, but that its performances were at European level, that they were appreciated abroad and that there was a permanent connection, a fruitful exchange of ideas between Romanian and Western medicine. Communism has brought in medicine, as in all other aspects of social life, a complete reversal of values! Only one ideology, the Marxist one, was allowed and any other view on social, historical, political phenomena was forbidden. All medical disciplines were ideologized, especially those that were prone to interpretations, such as biology for example, introducing pseudo-scientific notions and theories. It was almost obligatory for any Western scientist to be placed after a Russian name, as was the aggrandizement of Soviet medical science obligatory. The selection was replaced on the basis of the value with the political criterion and of the social origin, reaching in the medical management positions persons imposed by the communist forums, without the proper training and without moral and professional authority. Lies, dementia, blackmail, terror were used to intimidate and force teachers and physicians to join the communist doctrine and to annihilate their personality and remove those who did not accept the compromise. A complete isolation was imposed behind the "iron curtain", contacts with the Western medical world being allowed only to the communist elites. The gap between Romanian and Western medicine has progressively increased throughout the communist period. Numerous examples are given. Communism destroyed Romanian medicine and the consequences are felt to the present day! Prof. Dr. Dinu Antonescu          About Dinu Antonescu Primary physician, orthopaedics - traumatology Born in 1935, in Ploieşti. Graduated from the Medical Faculty of the "Iuliu Haţieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Cluj (1952 - 1958), as valedictorian. Activity: Medical assistance: primary doctor since 1971 (Brâncoveanu Clinical Hospital for Orthopaedics); head of the Orthopaedic section at Foisor Hospital 1991 - 2001; Education: UMF Carol Davila: Teacher 1992 - 2001; consulting professor since 2001. Research: PhD in medical sciences 1970; Main scientific researcher first degree since 2001. Publications: first author in the volumes: Semiology of the locomotor system in the Medical Semiology monograph, edited by I. Bruckner, Medical Publishing House, 2002; Fractures generalities in the Treatise of Surgical Pathology, edited by N. Anghelescu, Medical Publishing House, 2001; Tumors of the Locomotor System, and Surgical Treatment of Inflammatory Rheumatism in the Treatise of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology under the editors R. Paun, Medical Publishing House 1999; News in Orthopaedics and Traumatology in Surgical News, edited by E. Constantinescu, Medical Publishing House 1989;  Elements of Osteo-Articular Pathology, Teora Publishing House 2000; Diseases of the Foot in Dečja Ortopedija edited by Zoran Vukašinović, Belgrad 1999; Correction of SpineDeviations, Medical Publishing House, the collection Medicine for all, 1993; Calculation Methods and Experimental Techniques for Stress Analysis in Biomechanics, TechnicalPublishing House, 1986; Orthopaedic and Traumatology Elements for Students, Publisar Publishing House 1999. Distinctions: The "Romanian Star" National Order to the rank of High Officer 2000, the Order "The Crown of Romania to the rank of Officer", 2014. Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, December 22nd, 2019, from 11.00 am, the NTB Small Hall will host the conference Revolution - 30 Years. Profiteers and Beneficiaries of the Revolution. A debate of the "22" magazine at the National Theatre of Bucharest. About the Conference30 years have elapsed since the Romanian revolution. There still remain unanswered questions about the culprits for the dead of the Revolution, about how the state institutions and politicians have positioned themselves towards the need for truth.But there are also more general questions about the evolution of Romania over the three decades, about social justice, about gains and losses. These will be the topics discussed by the "22" Magazine at the edition of December 22nd, 2019, 11 o'clock of the Conferences of the National Theatre of Bucharest under the title Revolution - 30 Years. Profiteers and Beneficiaries. Moderated by journalist Brîndușa Armanca, the debate has prestigious guests who will outline a consistent image of post-December Romania: Andreea Pora, editor-in-chief of the magazine, Prof. PhD. Andrei Cornea - editorialist, Germina Nagat - member of the CNSAS College (National Council for Studying the Securitate Archives), Andrei Oisteanu, writer and Dan Perjovschi, plastic artist, magazine designer.The contributions from the hall will complete the image and reiterate the practice of open dialogue about what concerns us all. Guests: Andreea Pora, Andrei Cornea, Germina Nagat, Andrei Oișteanu, Dan PerjovschiModerator: Brindusa Armanca   Poster design by Dan Perjovschi Translated by Simona Nichiteanu

Video-streaming On Sunday, December 8th, 2019, from 11.00 am, the NTB Black Box Hall will host the conference Silvia Colfescu sharing stories with Anamaria Smigelschi: About the Romanian Bohemia of the ‘70s-‘80s. Reunion with the art of Ion Alin Gheorghiu and Vladimir Setran. About the conference After a first conference held at NTB in ​​2018, entitled Stories from Bucharest - a City with the Calling of Survival, writer and graphic artist Silvia Colfescu returns with a new conference, this time in the form of a dialogue with graphic artist Anamaria Smigelschi. You are invited to a discussion about the fascinating bohemia of the '70s-'80s, but also to a reunion with the fine art of Ion Alin Gheorghiu and Vladimir Setran, some of their paintings being permanently on display in the lobby of the Black Box Hall.       Silvia Colfescu is a graduate of the Faculty of Art History of the Institute of Fine Arts "Nicolae Grigorescu" (currently the National University of Arts). Co-founder of the Bucharest Weather magazine, she is a translator from French and English, illustrator, writer. Selective bibliography: 1982 - A Happy Family, Ion Creanga Publishing, Bucharest, republished in 1990, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest; 1985 - Dictionary of Romanian Language for Students, fine arts department, Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House, republished in 1999 at Cartier Publishing, Bucharest; 2000 - Bucharest, historical, tourist, artistic guide, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest, republished in 12 updated editions; 2004 - Two months in Europe, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest; 2009 - Cats of Bucharest, Vremea Publishing, Buc .; 2013 - Fabulous Aunts and other Stories from Bucharest, Vremea Publishing, Bucharest.        Anamaria Smigelschi is the daughter of architect Victor Smigelschi, son of the Transylvanian painter of Polish origin Octavian Smigelschi, and Maria Anna Giuseppina Trinchieri, of Italian origin. She was married to painter Ion Alin Gheorghiu, who died in 2001. Fine artist - graphic artist, Anamaria Smigelschi has been distinguished throughout her career with numerous national and international awards; she created easel graphics, engraving, graphic design for illustrated magazines, television shows, advertising and poster graphics, book graphics. She is the author of eight children's books and has illustrated countless others. She has published at the Humanitas Publishing House the volumes of memoirs "Taste, Smell and Memory" (2013), "From Yore, from Afar" (2015) and at the Vremea Publishing House "Passersby Passersby" (2019).   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

The series of NTB Conferences in partnership with major Romanian cultural magazines continues, in December, with two debates organized by 22 Magazine. On Sunday, December 8th, 2019, from 11.00 am, the NTB Small Hall will host the conference 1989-2019: The Failure of Liberalism?Guests: Andrei Cornea, Raluca Alexandrescu, Sorin Ionita, Octavian ManeaModerator: Stefan Vianu   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, November 24th, 2019, from 11.00 am, the NTB Black Box Hall will host the conference Literary Romania in dialogue with the readers. Participants: Nicolae Manolescu, Gabriel Chifu, Daniel Cristea-Enache, Sorin Lavric, Cristian Patrasconiu, Razvan Voncu Special guests: Andrei Plesu, Horia-Roman Patapievici, Livius Ciocarlie, Alex Stefanescu, Mihai Zamfir   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, November 10th, 2019, from 11.00 am,the NTB Black Box Hall shall host the conference The canonical list of prose and poetry of "Literary Romania" magazine. After the month of October, dedicated to a partnership with the „Dilema Veche” magazine, the NTB Conferences shall be produced in the month of November in collaboration with „Romania literara”. Well-known literary critics and historians, all collaborators of „Romania literara”, gathered around the manager of this magazine, Nicolae Manolescu, will draw up a list of the prose and poetry books, that they deem the most valuable and representative for Romanian literature. Participants: Nicolae Manolescu, Razvan Voncu, Daniel Cristea-Enache, Mihai Zamfir. Moderated by: Gabriel Chifu   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu 

On Sunday, October 20th, 2019, from 11.00 am, the NTB Black Box Hall will host the conference Sever Voinescu in dialogue with George Banu. Returns. Old friends or former friends? within the project NTB Conferences. About the Conference For the ancient Greeks, friendship was "a virtue" achieved thanks to the intellectual and emotional exchanges between "good people", as the evaluation of the partners serves as a foundation, but also as a guarantee for the relevance of this interpersonal connection. The discourses on the status of friends were constituted as a passing in time of the relay from Aristotle and Cicero to Montaigne, Nietzsche and so many others, as Blanchot and Derrida. Most of these interpreters consider the friend to be "another self", a "third" that accompanies the "double" from which any being is built, or even an "alter ego". But people come and go, the lives of all are journeys in the proper sense of the word. What happens to friends whose roads go to different countries? But with friends who break up? But what about future friendships? A rich life, like that of Georges Banu, can very well be the beginning of a reflection on the topic of friendship. And especially because George Banu's life is impregnated with theatre, and all his friendships are related to theatre, we can even use the experience of theatre to marvel together at the experience of friendship. Sever Voinescu             Sever Voinescu (b. 1969, Ploiesti) graduated in 1992 from the Faculty of Law of the Bucharest University. Since 1994, he has been a lawyer in the Bucharest Bar. 1994 - 1996: Teaching assistant at the Department of Law of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. 1998 - 2000: Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2000 - 2003: General Consul of Romania in Chicago. 2004 - 2008: Coordinator of the Foreign Policy Programme at the Institute for Public Policy. 2008 - 2012: Member of the Romanian Parliament, for the entire term of office leading the Parliament Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As of January 1st, 2016, he has been the editor-in-chief of the Dilema Veche weekly cultural magazine and, as of the same year, he produces the weekly programme Christiana Europe on Trinitas television. Since 1993, he has published over 3,000 articles, comments and essays in cultural or daily publications such as Dilema / Dilema veche, 22, Observator Cultural, Cotidianul, Evenimentul Zilei. He has contributed to the content of several volumes and is especially proud of a book dedicated to opera, entitled Canta che ti pasa - talks with Virginia Zeani.         George Banu (b. 1943, Buzau) is a professor of drama studies at the Sorbonne, honorary president of the International Association of Theater Critics, honorary member of the Romanian Academy. Editor-in-chief of the internationally prestigious magazine Alternatives théâtrales and director of collections at Actes Sud Publishing House, he has published a wide number of volumes devoted to modern theatre and its protagonists, such as Peter Brook, Klaus Michael Grüber, Giorgio Strehler, Antoine Vitez and Ariane Mnouchkine. He is the author of a trilogy on theatre and painting: Le Rideau, L′homme de dos and Nocturnes. He worked with the famous scenographer Yannis Kokkos, publishing the work Le scénographe et le héron. His work Rouge et or is a reference work for the poetics of drama à l´italienne. He is the author of the Mémoires du théâtre study and a volume dedicated to the Japanese play L′acteur qui ne revient. He has won three times the best book award in France. His texts are translated into Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Slovak, Romanian. He produced two films, dedicated to Shakespeare and Chekhov, both of which were awarded by UNESCO. He is an honorary doctor of several universities. He received the UNITER award for his work. The Sorbonne dedicated him a tribute volume Travels or the horizon of theatre, signed by Peter Brook, Andrei Serban, Eugenio Barba, Radu Penciulescu, Niky Wolcz.   Translated by Simona Nichiteanu