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INTRODUCTION
Established herself as one of the most promising opera singers, Benedetta Torre embarked on an international career at the age of just twenty. She is one of the winners of Francesco Paolo Tosti 5th International Competition for Singers, Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition and Portofino International Opera Competition. In a conversation with Alice Lechner, Benedetta told us about her experience at Teatro alla Scala and Strehler's production of Le Nozze di Figaro, about her relationship with Mozart's music, about her experience at the Riccardo Muti Opera Academy and moreover, about her hopes and dreams in terms of the repertoire.
BIOGRAPHY
Soprano Benedetta Torre, born in Genoa, embarked on an international career at the age of just twenty. After starting piano and vocal studies in her home city, she is now continuing her training and specialization with soprano Barbara Frittoli. During her studies, she was awarded the Youth Prize at the Francesco Paolo Tosti 5th International Competition for Singers in 2012, following which she performed in concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. She took part in the 6th Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition, winning second prize, and the 4th Portofino International Opera Competition, where she won third prize. In 2018 she went on to win the Silver Star award at the Premio Chigiana. In the summer of 2015, she took part in the Riccardo Muti Opera Academy as Alice in Falstaff, while in October of the same year, she made her debut as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra for the inauguration of the Carlo Felice season in Genoa, under conductor Stefano Ranzani. In December of the same year, she was Mimì in La Bohème at the Ravenna Festival, directed by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti. The following year she was again Mimì in Lucca at the Teatro del Giglio. In 2017 she debuted in L’Elisir d’amore as Adina at Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice and in August performed as the High Priestess in Aida at the Salzburg Festival conducted by Riccardo Muti. Later in 2017, she was again Mimì in the Italian region of Le Marche, with stage direction by Leo Muscato, conducted by Matteo Beltrami. In 2018, at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, she performed as Arianna in the opening performance of Minotauro by Silvia Colasanti conducted by Jonathan Webb and as Marguerite in the dramatic oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher by Honegger, with Marion Cotillard in the role of Jeanne d’Arc, conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. Particularly noteworthy recent engagements include the opening of the 2018/2019 concert season at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari in Poulenc's Stabat Mater, debuts at the Opera di Roma as Susanna in Graham Vick's new production of Le Nozze di Figaro under the baton of Stefano Montanari and at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi directed by Rolando Panerai, the Mozart Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Missa Defunctorum by Paisiello in the Duomo of Pavia and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, both under conductor Riccardo Muti. In 2019 she sang in the Boccherini Stabat Mater with the Solisti Veneti. Following this she made an impressive debut at the Festival della Valle d’Itria as Carolina in Il Matrimonio segreto by Cimarosa, directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and conducted by Michele Spotti. In autumn of the same year, she made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival, singing as Adina in L’Elisir d’amore, including a tour of English cities in the same production. At the beginning of 2020, she was again Adina in L’Elisir d’amore at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl under conductor Sesto Quatrini. Following that, in February she made her debut at the Opera di Roma as Giulietta in I Capuleti e I Montecchi conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Denis Krief. Theatre closures caused by the pandemic meant that the inaugural opera of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna by Cherubini (in which she was to have sung as Bettina) and La Bohème at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna were cancelled. At the end of 2020, she sang Haendel and Vivaldi at the Abbey of Carceri (Padua) in the Christmas concert by the Solisti Veneti and for the first time in the Petite Messe Solennelle at Teatro San Carlo. In 2021 she made her debut as Despina at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Zubin Mehta (the production resumed in summer, always at the Maggio but conducted by Adam Fisher), she then sang as the High Priestess in Aida conducted by Maestro Muti at the Arena di Verona, followed by Mimì at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in La Bohème directed by Graham Vick and conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa and Musetta at the Teatro San Carlo in a new production by Emma Dante and with musical direction by Juraj Valčuha. Highlights of her 2022 engagements include the “New Year’s Concert” in Florence with the Orchestra della Toscana conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa, her debut in Cherubini’s opera Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna, which the Teatro del Maggio presented after its cancellation in 2020, the prestigious presence in Puccini’s Triptych at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Theodor Guschlbauer at the Teatro del Maggio and her debut as Micaëla in Carmen conducted by Sesto Quatrini at the Regio Opera Festival in Turin.
In August she performed in a Gala at the Rapallo Opera Festival alongside other winners of the IV edition of the CLIP Award. In autumn 2022, she made her debut as Héro in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict at her city’s theatre, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, under conductor Donato Renzetti and with stage direction by Damiano Michieletto. She was then the protagonist in the Mozart opera La finta semplice at the Teatro Goldoni in Florence, performed in the 7 Deaths of Maria Callas at the Liceu in Barcelona, was Zerlina in Don Giovanni at the Teatro del Maggio and, for the first time, sang in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alain Altinoglu at the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Upcoming engagements include Susanna at the Teatro alla Scala, in the revival of Strehler's legendary production of the Le nozze di Figaro.
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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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