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INTRODUCTION
Italian mezzosoprano Caterina Piva has been winning hearts across Europe with her powerful voice and captivating stage presence. From dazzling debuts at Teatro alla Scala to thrilling performances at the Salzburg Festival, she brings every role — from Carmen to Bradamante — to vivid life. In this interview, Caterina opens up about her artistic journey, her favorite roles, and the dreams that drive her.
BIOGRAPHY
Mezzosoprano Caterina Piva began her artistic training at a young age in the world of drama theatre. She graduated in Acting in 2009 from Teatro Carcano in Milan, and in Opera Singing in 2017 from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in the same city.
After placing in several international competitions, she won the “New Voices” category at the 69th edition of the As.Li.Co. Competition.
She attended the two-year specialization course at Teatro alla Scala, where she made her debut as Annina in Liliana Cavani’s historical staging of La traviata, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung and Marco Armiliato. She subsequently performed as La Ciesca in Woody Allen’s Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Adam Fischer, and as Maddalena in Gilbert Deflo’s historical staging of Rigoletto, conducted by Daniel Oren.
At Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, she sang Fenena (Nabucco), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Meg (Falstaff), Nikona (Siberia), Emilia (Otello), and Flora (La traviata), working under renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, John Eliot Gardiner, Gianandrea Noseda, Riccardo Frizza, and Paolo Carignani, and directors including Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Davide Livermore, Leo Muscato, Valerio Binasco, and Roberto Andò. She also made her role debut as Lucilla in Rossini’s La Scala di seta at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona and returned to perform Maddalena at Teatro Carlo Felice, conducted by Jordi Bernacer.
In summer 2022, she made her house debut at the Salzburg Festival as La Ciesca and La Maestra delle Novizie in Puccini’s Il trittico, directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
Further highlights include performing Dimitri in Mario Martone’s new production of Fedora at La Scala under Marco Armiliato, and making her role debut as Prinz Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus) at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, conducted by Fabio Luisi.
In 2023, she sang Cherubino at the Royal Opera House in Muscat in Giorgio Strehler’s historic staging of Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Sesto Quatrini, and Smeton in Jetske Mijnnsen’s staging of Anna Bolena at Teatro di San Carlo, under Riccardo Frizza. She also returned to the Salzburg Festival as Lady-in-waiting to Lady Macbeth in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production, conducted by Philippe Jordan.
Other recent highlights include Fenena at Festival Verdi di Parma under Giampaolo Bisanti, and her role debuts as Charlotte (Werther) with Donato Renzetti and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) with Fabio Luisi at Teatro Carlo Felice.
Most recently, she performed Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Roméo et Juliette at Teatro di San Carlo; made her role debut as Aristea (L’Olimpiade) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées under Jean-Christophe Spinosi and director Emmanuel Daumas; sang Preziosilla in La forza del destino at Gran Teatre del Liceu; Bradamante in Alcina at Opera di Roma; and Carmen at Teatro Carlo Felice. She also made her house debut at Opera Las Palmas as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and returned to Festival Verdi di Parma as Meg in Falstaff. In concert, she has performed Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, conducted by Roberto Abbado; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano; Messa per Rossini at the Rossini Opera Festival; and Verdi’s Requiem with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa.
Upcoming engagements include Carmen at Semperoper Dresden and in Treviso, Padua, and Rovigo, as well as Falstaffand Werther at Teatro di San Carlo.
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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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