THE Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was given a rousing reception at its first ever appearance in Romania.

The Phil was joined by Japanese violin virtuoso Midori at the 3,000-seat Palace Hall concert venue on Saturday night, where they performed as part of the George Enescu Festival.

And the orchestra made a second appearance, this time with Russian pianist Alexei Volodin, last night.

Both concerts were sold out and Saturday’s event was also broadcast live on Romanian television and radio.

Meanwhile conductor Vasily Petrenko was shadowed by a French TV production company making a documentary about the festival and featuring the Phil.

The Enescu Festival is named after Romania’s most famous composer and is one of Europe’s most prestigious classical music events, attracting some of the world’s top orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of France.

This year marks the 20th festival since 1958 and the ninth since the revolution of 1989.

It is the first time the RLPO has been invited and festival director, Mihai Constantinescu, said: “We asked the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic because it is a good orchestra, it is an old orchestra, and it has never been in Romania before.

“It also has a very good young conductor.”