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INTRODUCTION
BIOGRAPHY
Francesco Demuro was born in Porto Torres, Sardinia. Between 2003 and 2004 he studied at the Conservatory in Sassari, then he enrolled himself as a private student at the Conservatory in Cagliari, where he received lessons by soprano Elisabetta Scanu. His 2007 debut in Parma with Luisa Miller was a great success both for the critics and the audience and he received invitations from some of the most important Italian and foreign opera houses. Between 2007 and 2009 he sang Luisa Miller again in Sassari, and he debuted in Turin with Rigoletto, that he also sang in Hong Kong in a tournée with Teatro Regio di Parma. Further highlights of those seasons include Simon Boccanegra at the Megaron in Athens, Rigoletto in Dresden conducted by Fabio Luisi and at Festival Verdi in Parma, and La Bohème in Bari. He obtained great reviews from public and critics for his Spanish debut in Roberto di Devereux in Las Palmas and he sang La Traviata at Teatro Municipal in Santiago (Cile) and Rigoletto in Beijing, in tournée with Teatro Regio di Parma. Highlights in the recent seasons included the debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Alfredo in La Traviata and Rodolfo in La Bohème; Rigoletto, Così Fan Tutte and Falstaff in San Francisco with M° Luisotti; La Traviata at Berlin Staatsoper, Munich Opera, Oper Frankfurt, at the Royal Opera House in London, at Opéra Bastille, at La Fenice in Venice, at Teatro Real de Madrid, at Liceu in Barcelona and at Arena di Verona, as well as in Las Palmas, Bari and Cagliari; Don Pasquale in Verona, Falstaff at La Scala, La Bohème and Rigoletto in Seattle, Maria Stuarda in Bilbao and at the Champs Elysées in Paris, Rigoletto at Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, at Teatro Real in Madrid and in Tokyo in tournée with La Scala with M° Dudamel, Roméo et Juliette at Arena di Verona and in Seoul, La Bohème in Frankfurt, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Der Rosenkavalier at Opéra Bastille, L’Elisir d’Amore in Muscat in tournée with La Fenice, Lucia di Lammermoor in Ancona. On the concert platform, he performed Mozart’s Requiem in Verona, Verdi’s Requiem with the Houston Symphony and with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Palace of the Arts in Budapest, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Staatskapelle Berlin, the traditional New Year’s Concert at Teatro La Fenice. Most recently, he sings Werther at the theatres in Modena, Ferrara and Reggio Emilia and at Teatro Petruzzelli, a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at Hamburg State Opera, a new production of La sonnambula at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, La traviata at Tokyo Suntory Hall and Teatro di San Carlo, Le postillon de Lonjumeau at the Tiroler Festspiele, Rigoletto at Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper and Greek National Opera, I puritani at Opera di Roma and Teatro Petruzzelli, Les pêcheurs de perles at Berlin Staatsoper, L’elisir d’amore at Chorégies d’Orange. In concert, he performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Teatro Regio di Parma and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Concertgebouw. Season 2022/23 saw him perform in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Roméo et Juliette at Opéra de Paris, La sonnambula at Teatro Real, L’elisir d’amore at Wiener Staatsoper, La traviata at Hamburg State Opera, Werther at Greek National Opera, Rigoletto at Staatsoper Berlin. Upcoming plans include Norma at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, La bohème at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Maria Stuarda at Teatro di San Carlo, Médée at Teatro Real, Beatrice di Tenda at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Bellini in Catania, Don Giovanni at Teatro La Fenice.
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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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