Grand Théâtre de Genève: A Masterpiece of Architecture and Elegance

The Grand Théâtre de Genève is one of Switzerland’s most prestigious cultural landmarks, renowned for its rich history and contribution to the world of opera, ballet, and classical music. This historic venue is the beating heart of the city’s opera scene, and whether you’re a seasoned art lover or just curious about the cultural vibe, […]

Palacio de Bellas Artes

The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) in Mexico City is a prominent cultural and architectural landmark. „Bellas Artes” for short, has been called the „art cathedral of Mexico”, and is located on the western side of the historic center of Mexico City. Bellas Artes replaced the original National Theatre, built in the […]

Teatro Massimo

We continue our Theaters around the World column, and in this issue, we arrive in Sicily, more precisely in Palermo. It is known that Teatro Massimo di Palermo was, for a long time, the third largest opera house in Europe, after Palais Garnier and Wiener Staatsoper. The construction of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Sicily, […]

Copenhagen Opera House

In this issue, Theatre around the world rubric arrives in Denmark, to be precise in Copenhagen. Copenhagen Opera House (Operaen in Danish) is among some of the most modern Opera Houses in the world. The whole project was a donation by the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation to the Danish state.  The idea […]

La Monnaie

The La Monnaie opera house, also known as the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie is a renowned opera house in Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is housed—La Monnaie in French or De Munt in Dutch—referring both to the building as well as the opera […]

Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa

In this issue, the Theatre Around the World rubric takes us to Poland’s capital, Warsaw. The history of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is a fascinating journey that spans over a thousand years. Warsaw’s beginnings can be traced back to the 9th or 10th century when a fishing village was established on present-day Warsaw.  The […]

Royal Swedish Opera

Known also as Kungliga Operan, the Royal Swedish Opera is Sweden’s national opera company. It is located in Stockholm and has a long and prestigious history dating back to its founding in 1773.  The Opera Company was founded with the Royal Swedish Academy of Music by King Gustav III and its first performance, Thetis and […]

Teatro dell’Opera di Roma

The main opera house in Rome is the Teatro dell’Opera, which is also known as the Teatro Constanzi. The theater was inaugurated in 1880 and was originally named after its founder, Domenico Costanzi. It was financed by Costanzi, who commissioned the Milanese architect Achille Sfondrini, a specialist in the building and renovation of theatres. The […]

Semperoper Dresden

In the Anniversary issue, the Theaters Around the World rubric takes us to Germany’s Saxon capital, Dresden. The city was first mentioned in historical records in 1206, and it quickly became an important center of trade and commerce. In the 16th century, Dresden became the capital of the Electorate of Saxony, a powerful state in […]

Drottningholm’s Slottsteater

Historical Background Built-in 1766 for Queen Lovisa Ulrika, Drottningholm’s Slottsteater, or the Court Theatre of Drottningholm, is the only 18th-century venue in the world that still uses the original stage machinery and is one of the best preserved theatres from this time in the world. From an international perspective, the theater is a unique building, […]

Alice Lechner

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

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

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 Fieraru

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.

BIANCA L. NICA

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