About REVIVART
The REVIVART Association is a non-profit entity focused on culture and education, operating primarily in the field of music. The organization was founded in 2021 with the aim of revitalizing and bringing back to the attention of the general public early music, especially Byzantine music, which has been insufficiently explored nationally and internationally.
A significant activity carried out by the members of the association, most of whom come from the Bucharest academic environment, is the sound recovery of songs notated using semiographies and musical languages that have disappeared. Another core activity, fully in line with the entity’s stated purpose, focuses on popularizing new musicological information discovered in hard-to-access archives or unknown collections of musical manuscripts.
Areas of activity
Early Music
The REVIVART Association promotes Romanian musical heritage by reconstructing and reinterpreting early musical repertoires, preserved in neumatic notation that has fallen into disuse. Through concerts, workshops, and artistic research, the association contributes to the rediscovery of forgotten sounds, offering the public refined and deeply educational cultural experiences.
Mission and vision
A significant part of the activities carried out by the REVIVART Association is dedicated to researching and revitalizing writings and musical scores in the field of early and Byzantine music, an invaluable part of European cultural heritage. Using modern methods of musical research, the projects carried out under the auspices of the REVIVART Association have made use of old archives and unknown collections. In addition to publishing volumes, the researched music has been recorded on discs, and the public has been able to experience these works in the context of concerts organized in the country together with the Byzantine music ensemble “Psalmodia” and the early music ensemble “Dimitrie Cantemir,” both of which belong to the National University of Music Bucharest. At the same time, the REVIVART Association’s projects place particular emphasis on education through formal and informal methods, aimed at both musicians and those who wish to develop their passion for music. To this end, specialists from Romania and abroad are invited as trainers in masterclasses and workshops held online or on-site, which have been attended by a significant number of students to date.
Grants
Since its founding, the REVIVART Association has managed to access several non-reimbursable grants following its participation in editorial and cultural proposal competitions organized by the National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN). Between 2021 and 2025, four large-scale projects were implemented, aimed at lovers of early music: performers, researchers, musicologists, and enthusiasts of the genre.
ERASMUS+ Accreditation
In January 2025, the REVIVART Association obtained Erasmus+ accreditation in the field of Adult Education, opening a new chapter in its international and educational development. Accreditation number 2024-1-RO01-KA120-ADU-000271901 provides access to European vocational training and transnational mobility programs, through which the team and beneficiaries will explore new learning experiences, acquire relevant skills, and contribute to expanding the network of cultural and educational partners.
The REVIVART Team
Cătălin Cernătescu
President of REVIVART
Cătălin Cernătescu is a scientific researcher III at the National University of Music in Bucharest and a trainee member of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania. He is a specialist in alternative systems of notation for choral singing and composition, winning important awards between 2012 and 2023 at the “Praise the Lord!” Church Music Festival and Competition, organized by the Romanian Patriarchate. Since 2021, he has been president of the REVIVART Association, through which he carries out notable cultural projects for the research and promotion of sacred music. As editor, co-editor, and sole author, Cătălin Cernătescu has published 15 volumes of Byzantine music and musicology to date, consisting of investigations into sacred music, personal compositions, and reissues of collections of emblematic songs by Dionisie Fotino, Petru Efesiul, Cuviosul Macarie Ieromonahul, and Anton Pann. Since January 2025, Cernătescu has coordinated the postgraduate course in Byzantine music editing in the Melodos program, organized by the National University of Music in Bucharest.
Nicolae Gheorghiță
Nicolae Gheorghiță studied at the National University of Music in Bucharest (Byzantine Music and Musicology), specialized in Athens and Thessaloniki, and held research fellowships at Cambridge-UK, Saint Petersburg, and Venice. He also completed two post-doctoral programs at the New Europe College and the Music Institute for Doctoral Studies in Bucharest (UNMB). Nicolae Gheorghiță is vice-president of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania and was awarded the institution’s prize for the volumes Byzantine Music between Constantinople and the Danubian Principalities: Studies in Byzantine Musicology (2010) and Musical Crossroads. Church Chants and Brass Bands at the Gates of the Orient (2015), as well as the Romanian Academy Award for the latter work. Gheorghiță currently teaches Byzantine musical paleography, musical stylistics, and theories of Byzantine song interpretation at UNMB (where he is vice-rector), and is also the conductor and performer of the Byzantine music choir Psalmodia.
Vlad Ghinea
Vlad Ghinea graduated with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the National University of Music in Bucharest, specializing in musicology, and is currently a doctoral student at the same institution, researching musicological volumes published by Editura Muzicală during the communist period. Vlad Ghinea’s musicological papers have been presented at specialist symposiums in Bucharest, Iași, Cluj-Napoca, and Dresden, and his compositions have featured in concert programs in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu, and Aalborg. He has published reviews and studies in important magazines and newspapers in the Romanian cultural landscape, and in 2019-2020 he collaborated with Radio România Muzical. Research into Romanian music is also an area of particular interest, as evidenced by the publication of studies in volumes published under the auspices of the Romanian Archive of the Musical Avantgarde. Vlad Ghinea currently works as an editor at the National University of Music Publishing House in Bucharest.
Desiela Ion
Desiela Ion is a scientific researcher III at the National University of Music in Bucharest and a member of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania. She graduated from the musicology department of the National University of Music in Bucharest, and at the same institution she obtained her doctorate in music, under the guidance of Valentina Sandu-Dediu. She has participated in international conferences, published reviews, studies, and articles in the newspaper Acord, the magazine Actualitatea Muzicală, and the journal Musicology Today, and has produced interviews and reports for Radio România Muzical. In 2025, he received the historiography award from the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania for his volume Romanian Orchestral Music at the Bucharest Philharmonic, in two case studies: Mihail Jora and Paul Constantinescu, published by UNMB Publishing House in 2024. Since 2018, he has been working within the Research, Innovation, and Information Department of UNMB, carrying out various research projects.
Anda Mihălăchescu
Anda Mihălăchescu completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in interior design at the National University of Arts in Bucharest and is currently a doctoral student at the same institution. She also studied design through an Erasmus scholarship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and obtained a post-graduate internship at the Plan B Gallery in Berlin. During her studies, she formulated a proposal for the rehabilitation of the Storck villa in Balchik, which was subsequently presented in multiple exhibitions, including at the Frederic Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu Storck Museum, as part of the “Via Pontica” international youth art festival, and as part of the annual Art Safari 2025 artistic event. Since 2022, she has been working as an interior designer. However, she has also been involved in related projects, such as creating the set design for the UNMusic Hub podcast of the National University of Music Bucharest and educational volunteer activities. Within REVIVART, she has participated in numerous volunteer activities since 2023. She has a constant interest in modernizing the teaching-learning process, with an emphasis on creative methods adapted to students, including artificial intelligence and various social media platforms as working tools.
Get involved!
Are you passionate about old music and want to find out how this repertoire is being rediscovered and promoted? Do you want to experience modern aspects of music education firsthand? Your involvement helps us bring our projects closer to the general public.
Write to us at asociatiarevivart@gmail.com about the areas you would like to learn more about and become a volunteer for the REVIVART Association.
You can support our activities by making a donation to the following bank account:
ASOCIAȚIA REVIVART, CIF: 44308291
RO39BTRLRONCRT0598277301