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INTRODUCTION
Valeria Sepe, one of Italy’s most gifted sopranos, continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her extraordinary voice and powerful stage presence. With a career spanning prestigious opera houses across Europe, Asia, and beyond, Sepe has earned acclaim for her remarkable portrayals of iconic roles like Mimì in La Bohème and Liù in Turandot. In this exclusive cover interview, she reflects on her journey, artistic inspirations, and the relentless pursuit of musical excellence that has solidified her place as one of the leading sopranos of her generation.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Naples, Valeria Sepe is considered one of the most gifted Italian sopranos of her generation. Her exceptional talent was recognized early on, earning her the 2016 Academy Award for New Generation Soprano, as well as numerous international accolades, including the Second Prize at the prestigious “Marcello Giordani” International Singing Competition. She graduated with top honors from the "G.F. Ghedini" Conservatory in Cuneo, and in the 2019/2020 academic year, she completed an advanced specialization and professional development course in Artistic Vocality, Phoniatrics, and Singing, once again earning the highest marks and praise. Valeria Sepe’s career began on Italy’s most important stages, where she took on leading roles in opera houses across Florence, Naples, Palermo, Genoa, Parma, Verona, and Turin. Her extraordinary voice and powerful stage presence soon brought her to the attention of the international opera world. She went on to debut in some of the most renowned theaters around the globe, working under the direction of legendary figures such as Franco Zeffirelli, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Pier Francesco Maestrini, and Davide Livermore, and collaborating with celebrated conductors like Daniel Oren, Renato Palumbo, Nicola Luisotti, Stefano Ranzani, Marco Armiliato, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Andrea Battistoni, and Giampaolo Bisanti. Her interpretation of Mimì in La Bohème has become one of her signature roles, performed on prestigious stages such as the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Opera di Firenze, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Teatro Regio in Parma, and the Bellini Theater in Catania. She has also brought the tragic beauty of Liù from Puccini’s Turandot to life in Japan at Tokyo’s Bunkakaikan Theater, in Macao at the International Music Festival, at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, at the Grand Theatre Opera in Hong Kong, and in Salerno, Skopje, and Varna. Another of her acclaimed roles is Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, performed at the Verona Arena under the baton of Marco Armiliato, at the Teatro Regio in Turin, and again in Verona under the iconic direction of Franco Zeffirelli. Her portrayal of Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen has captivated audiences at the Verona Arena, the Sejong Center in Seoul, and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Internationally, she has taken on Desdemona in Otello at the Hong Kong Opera, Adriana in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari, Manon in Manon Lescaut in São Paulo, and Leonora in Il Trovatore in Japan. She has also appeared as Margherita in Boito’s Mefistofele in Pisa, and Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in both Skopje and Livorno. Beyond opera, Valeria Sepe has also made her mark in the symphonic repertoire. She has performed as a soprano soloist in Brahms’ German Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, all at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, once again demonstrating the depth and versatility of her artistry. With each role, Valeria Sepe continues to enchant audiences and critics alike, confirming her place among the leading sopranos on the international operatic stage.In 2024, Valeria Sepe took part in the Viva Puccini tour alongside Jonas Kaufmann, performing across Europe. Additionally, she appeared as Liù in Turandot at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, took on the title role in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and portrayed Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly at the Puccini Festival.
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INTERVIEW
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Alice Lechner comes from a music-loving family. Her first encounter with the opera universe was at the tender age of six. The grandeur of the stage productions and costumes, the backstage chatter, and last, but definitely not least, the music left her in awe, beginning with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The overall feeling that opera awakens in anyone who gets a glimpse into this part of artistic eternity, that each and every day passes the test of time, was what drew her to stay and be a part of this world. The Opera House of Brașov became her second home, and the people who worked there were her second family.
Since then, Alice has devoted her spare time to maximising her musical knowledge through instrumental studies, studying both piano and violin for a short time. In the following years, her number one passion stepped out of the limelight and graciously gave way to Law Studies.
Since 2018 she has been studying Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.
Her passion for opera, even if it is no longer her top professional priority in terms of career, it has most definitely become her priority during her free time. Wanting to experience the best of both worlds and extend her musical horizons, she regularly attends opera performances throughout Romania and abroad.
With OPERA Charm Magazine, Alice aims to nurture her creative side to help it flourish and bloom and to discover, alongside the magazine’s readers, the fascinatingly complex world of opera.
Currently, she is an LL.M. in Business Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.
Oana Zamfir is a second year MA student at the “George Enescu” National University of Arts, at the Department of Musicology.
She studied violin for 12 years at the “Stefan Luchian” High School of Art in Botosani, later focusing on the theoretical aspects of music. In 2019 she completed her bachelor studies in Musicology as a student of the National Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” in Cluj-Napoca. Her research during 2018-2019 brought to the forefront elements of the archaic ritual within works of composers who activated during the communist period, giving her the opportunity to start a research internship at the “Carl von Ossietzky” University in Germany. In this context, she recorded conversations with members of the Sophie Drinker Institute in Bremen, and had access to documents directly from the Myriam Marbé archive.
Since 2019 she has been a teacher of Music Education and Theoretical Music Studies, making full use of interactive methods in the musical training of students and working, at the same time, with the children’s choir founded in the first year of her activity.
Her interests include pursuing a degree in interior design in 2020.
Alexandru Suciu inherited his passion for art growing up in a family of several generations of musicians. He began his musical studies at the “Augustin Bena” School of Music in Cluj, where he studied piano and guitar. Even though his main study direction was philological, his passion for music prevailed. He began his academical journey at the Faculty of Letters of the “Babeș-Bolyai” University, studying Comparative literature and English. He continued by studying Opera Singing at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy. He also graduated the Musical Education section, followed by Artistic Directing at the Musical Performing Arts department.
His multidisciplinary education opened the doors towards research, which is seen both through his participation in national and international conferences and symposia, such as the Salzburg Easter School PhD-forum, organized by the Salzburg Universität or the Silesian Meeting of Young Scholars, organized by the Institute of English at the University of Silesia, as well as the collaboration with Opera Charm Magazine.
During his student years, he won several prizes, including the Grand Prize at the “Paul Constantinescu” National Musical Interpretation Competition, the Romanian Composers and Musicologists’ Union Prize at the same competition, the First Prize and the Schubert Prize at the “Ada Ulubeanu” Competition.
He further developed his artistic skills by specializing in courses and masterclasses held by personalities such as Vittorio Terranova, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Marian Pop, Ines Salazar, Riccardo Zanellato, Paolo Bosisio, Valentina Farcaș and Manuel Lange in contexts such as the Internationale Sommerakademie für Operngesang Deutschlandsberg, Corso Internazionale di Canto Lirico I.M.C. Licata or the Europäische Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Montepulciano. Besides his activity on-stage, he currently teaches Opera Singing Didactics, and Pedagogical Practice within the Department for Teacher Education and Training at the “Gheorghe Dima” National Music Academy.
Cristina is a 24 year-old Romanian soprano & a student at the National University of Music Bucharest, where she pursues the MA program in Vocal Performance.
She made her debut in Pamina from “Die Zauberflöte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at only 19 years old at the Bucharest National Opera House, as a member of the Ludovic Spiess Experimental Opera Studio. Over the years she made her debut in roles such as Contessa d’Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Mimì & Musetta (La Bohème), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) in her university’s opera productions.
Her passion and experience extends in the field of choral music, too.
She has been part of our dream team since the fall of 2021. For a good period of time she took care of OPERA Charm’s social media and took you on the monthly journey through the history of opera through our Legends rubric – and a few times through the Theaters around the World rubric.
Her little soul rubric – from 2021 to present – is definitely the Conductors of the Future, where, every month, she gives you the chance to meet a young star of the world of conducting and, of course, to find out what’s the most charming feature of opera in these artists’ views.
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