Theatre and opera director Andrei Serban has been appointed Honorary Director of the Bucharest National Theatre (TNB), the institution announced on Tuesday.

'The general manager of the 'I.L. Caragiale' National Theatre in Bucharest, Ada Hausvater, is implementing a fundamental strategic line of her management project: the principle of recognising and integrating major artistic and human landmarks. Along this line, having the full support of the Ministry of Culture, the renowned director Andrei Serban has been appointed Honorary Director of TNB. This decision reflects the vision Ada Hausvater projects for the country's main stage: the evolution of TNB as a space of excellence that recognises and values its greatest assets at the highest level,' TNB said in a release.

According to the statement, the honorary title reaffirms the place held by the Bucharest National Theatre - and more broadly by Romanian theatre - in the history of world drama.

'A national theatre develops through the memory and recognition of its own values. My management project is based on this principle: we have the chance to bring together the people who lead Romanian theatre toward universality. Andrei Serban's appointment is a clear signal that TNB's doors are open to excellence, human generosity and uncompromising performance,' Hausvater stated.

Andrei Serban welcomed the coherence of the shared vision behind the decision.

'I assume that behind the initiative of the general manager and the minister to grant me the title of Honorary Director lies the recognition of the National Theatre's quality during the three years of my directorship, beginning in 1990 - years in which, despite immense difficulties, a cultural mini-revolution took place, giving the country's main stage its rightful name. The 'Greek Trilogy' staged back then generated a collective energy as lively as the tumultuous life of the streets in those days and, together with the productions that followed, opened the way to a new, courageous, risk-taking and vibrant theatre. Above all, vibrant - with a vertical aspiration toward that essential word: Quality. Artistic quality, impossible without human quality. This symbolic title gives me no rights, obligations or benefits. I thank the general manager and the minister and accept it with joy and with the hope that, by evoking the effervescence I inspired during my time at TNB's helm, the living spirit of those years will be rekindled under Ada Hausvater's leadership,' the director said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)