Man of culture Andrei Plesu, philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic and a former minister of culture, was awarded the Marin Constantin Excellence Award as part of the "Madrigal 60" show on Tuesday evening at the Ion Caramitru Hall of the Bucharest National Theatre House.

Presenting the award was the host of the gala, theatre critic Marina Constantinescu, and Marin Constantin's son, Ion Marin.

"Returning from a tour in America in 1990, the Madrigal found, so to speak, the key locks replaced as there was no place for them anymore. There was no purpose and no place. They sat with their luggage and costumes somewhere in a bus station and only the then culture minister stepping in to immediately place them under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, where they are even now made it possible for them to celebrate 60 years, otherwise, the 1990s could have been the end of the line. And another minister, coincidentally the one and the same person, in the entire 2005 and 2006 campaign for Romania's accession to the European Union, understanding, as a man of culture, that every country, every people first needs a visiting card on which cultural performances, traditions and things of great value should be clearly printed, returned the Madrigal to its natural function that it always had, as a Romanian cultural ambassador. All that culminated with a concert, right at the time of Romania's accession to the EU, in Luxembourg. It is our great joy to present the Marin Constantin Excellence Award to Mr Andrei Plesu, with all our gratitude," said Ion Marin.

Plesu said that he was taken by surprise when he found out that he would be presented with the award on the Madrigal choir's anniversary.

He said that in his childhood he had "something to do" with music, first time when he was a student in primary school, when he took two years of piano and, later, when he sang at the Palace of Pioneers, a period of two or three years, in the children's choir of the Palace of Pioneers. He also mentioned recording a compact disc together with Johnny Raducanu.

"I was at Tescani and few people dared to come and see me there, but Johnny came. I was employed there as a librarian at the George Enescu House. George Enescu had an impressive library and I had to keep track of it. Walking in the library, I found a notebook with lyrics to party songs from between the two world wars. I knew their melodies from my mother, but I didn't know the lyrics anymore. When Johnny saw the lyrics, he decided to sing them together, him on the piano and me vocally. And we spent a whole night singing together and he recorded everything. So, there is a musical component to my life," said Plesu.

The second excellence award was bestowed posthumously on stage actor Ion Caramitru, a former manager of the Bucharest National Theatre House.

Presenting the award was theatre critic Marina Constantinescu.

"I am going to give Marina Constantinescu, for all theatre people and especially for the Caramitru family, in memory of Ion Caramitru, the Marin Constantin Award," said Ion Marin.

Constantinescu mentioned that she will first take the award to UNITER, "to stay in his house for a while," and then she will hand it over to the Caramitru family.

The "Madrigal 60" anniversary show opened by the Madrigal Choir performing in Renaissance costumes created by set designer Iulia Gheorghescu. They were directed by Anna Ungureanu.

The evening ended with a show offered by Madrigal alumni from different generations, coming from all over the world. They were conducted by three of the conductors who made history in the Madrigal Choir: Voicu Popescu, Dan-Mihai Goia, and Veronica Bojescu.

The performance was directed by Emil Pantelimon. AGERPRES (RO- author: Petronius Craiu, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)