OPERA Charm Magazine is a project built on the friendship of its three founding members, with the aim of building a bridge between the young artists and the biggest stages in the world, as well as exploring the intricacies of what is happening behind de curtain.

It all started in February 2020 when the blog Jurnal de Soprană (A Soprano’s Diary), dedicated to opera performance reviews, and interviews with artists, owned by OPERA Charm’s main founder, Bianca L. Nica, turned into an online magazine with the help, love and support of Oana Zamfir (MA Musicologist) and Alice Lechner (MA Business Law Student).

Ever since its beginning, its main focus was that of helping the young generation of artists. This was made visible by projects such as Riccardo Zanellato’s masterclass, held in Cluj-Napoca between the 10th and the 15th of March 2020, just before the first major lockdown caused by the pandemic. There were other artistical projects, which were unfortunately interrupted by the pandemic, but they will, nonetheless, take place in the future.

Although OPERA Charm’s idea was not born during the pandemic, its first issue appeared on the 14th of April 2020, one month into the total lockdown. During this time, the magazine’s team took advantage of the artists’ free time caused by the sudden interruption of every artistic event and has organized over 30 Instagram Live Interviews. This was the first major boost of attention that the magazine received. We are grateful towards those who believed in us ever since then!

Shortly after the beginning of our activity we have received the support of different cultural institutions. Already the fifth issue of the magazine in 2020 was realized in collaboration with the Teatro Regio di Parma, and it was dedicated to the XXth edition of the Verdi Festival. For this fifth issue of OPERA Charm Magazine, there were interviews with Roberto Abbado, the Musical Director of the festival, Francesco Izzo, musicologist and Scientifical Director of the festival, Candida Mantica, musicologist, and bass Michele Pertusi.

The magazine continued to develop, and it received attention from other such institutions. Thus, in July 2021, Opera Charm Magazine collaborated with the Fondazione Giacomo Puccini, Museo Casa Natale Puccini and Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini in Lucca (Tuscany), and had as a result, among other things, interviews with Gabriella Ravenni, the director of the Centro Studi, and cum îl chema pe ăla Massimo Marsili.

During these three years of its existence, OPERA Charm Magazine brought forward to its readers exclusive interviews with some of the most important and sought-after opera singers. Among these, are Dmitry Korchak, Annalisa Stroppa, Hera Hyesang Park, Mattia Denti, Marco Filippo Romano, Roberto de Candia, Tamara Radjenovic, Lilly Jorstadt, Bogdan Baciu, Svetlina Stoyanova, Chiara Isotton, Ildar Abdrazakov, Mariam Battistelli, Frédéric Chaslin, Irina Lungu, Yusif Eyvazov, Marina Viotti, Adela Zaharia, Riccardo Zanellato, Ambur Braid, Oreste Cosimo, Junsung Gabriel, Lilian Farahani, Cameron Shahbazi, Kathryn Lewek, Julia Muzychenko, Saimir Pirgu, Riccardo Fassi, Teresa Iervolino, Monica Conesa, Stepanka Pucalkova, Asmik Grigorian, Sir Bryn Terfel, Marina Rebeka, Piero Pretti, Flaka Goranci, Randall Scotting, Edgardo Rocha, J’Nai Bridges, Franco Vassallo, Lilia Istratii, Teodor Ilincai, Rame Lahaj, Serena Sáenz, Antonio Poli, Valentina Anzani, Massimo Cavaletti, Marina Monzó, Zoltan Nagy, Nadine Sierra, Vittorio Grigolo, Ermonela Jaho, Davide Luciano, Venera Giamadieva, Freddie De Tommaso, Serban Vasile, Jongmin Park, Erin Morley, Kirill Belov, Mané Galoyan, Laura Verrecchia, Anna Pirozzi, Victoria Karkachev, Ivan Ayon-Rivas, Andrea Care, Anastasia Bartoli, Piero Pretti, Martina Belli, Lisette Oropesa, Claudia Pavone, Joseph Calleja, Judith Kutasi, Shi Zong, Angela Meade, Vladimir Stoyanov, Christina Poulitsi, Bogdan Volkov, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Murat Karahan, Simone Piazzola, Sonya Yoncheva, Fabio Armiliato, Alisa Kolosova, Vittorio Prato, Hui He, Federico Longhi, Charles Castronovo, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Katia Ricciarelli, Rosa Feola, Diletta Scandiuzzi, Marta Torbidoni, Mattia Olivieri, Francesca Dotto, Valentina Nafornita, Giulio Pelligra, Elisa Balbo, Sofia Esparza, Saioa Hernandez, Maria Mudryak, Anna Maria Chiuri, Claudio Sgura, Antonio di Matteo, Michele Pertusi, Kristine Opolais, Ruben Amoretti, Violeta Urmana, Angel Blue.

The musical aspects of Opera have been explored by interviews with conductors, with names the likes of Giampaolo Bisanti, Roberto Abaddo, Paolo Arrivabeni, Dan Ettinger, Frederic Chaslin and Francesco Ivan Ciampa being seen within the pages of our magazine. The focus of these conversations is the operatic scene in its whole, so, naturally, we have interviewed some of the great directors, such as Kasper Holten, Jacopo Spirei, Daniele Piscopo. Nonetheless, the Charm of Opera comes from backstage, too, so we have felt compelled to talk to different managers, and agents: Anna Maria Meo, Dominique Meyer, Fulvio Macciardi, Paolo Petrocelli, Slobodan Zlatkovic and Marco Impallomeni.

As Opera Charm Magazine’s main mission is building a bridge between those who want to develop a career in the operatic domain and all the elements and resources this implies, bringing closer the young generation to the big stages, one of the most important section for each of its issues is the Charming Beginnings one. Alongside the greatest names in opera are the names of the future great singers, conductors, and directors, young professionals with a very promising future ahead of them. Here, we have had conversations with Diana Alexe, George Vîrban, Eusebiu Huțan, Nikita Ivasechko, Aitana Sanz Perez, Ani Kusyan, Anthony Leon, Valeriia Savinskaia, Sakhwe Mkosana, Amelie Hois, Xhieldo Hyseni, Daria Rybak, Jacob Bettinelli, Ustinya Malinina, Amin Ahangaran, Fleuranne Brokeway, Francesca di Sauro, Hannah Nacheman, Paolo Nevi, Matthew Crains, Patricia Nolz, Vincenzo Costanzo, Federica Guida, Davide Giangregorio, Kseniia Nikolaieva, Caterina Sala, Jacobo Ochoa, Santiago Sanchez, Marvic Monreal, Francesca Pia Vitale, Erika Wen Meng Gu, Francesco Leone, Maria Barakova, Lorrie Garcia, Arturo Espinosa, Larisa Stefan, Francesco Cascione, Paula Iancic, ndrei Stănculescu, Chloe Meyzie, David Schlager, Clara Maria Bauer, Sieva Borzak, Nicholas Koo, Riccardo Bisatti, Darijan Ivezic, Felix Hornbachner, Vitali Alekseenok, Sasha Yankevych, Cristian Spătaru, Nil Venditti, Maurizio Azzan, Giuseppe Famularo.

Most of our activity can be explored on our website, as well as our Facebook and Instagram pages. Please feel free to follow us on these channels.