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INTRODUCTION
OPERA Charm finally met Marina Viotti in the middle of the production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Teatro alla Scala in the production of Davide Livermore. Alice Lechner launched a conversation that touched on arguments that range from her participation in this production and her Nicklausse to her previous musical studies, the biggest challenges in an opera singer’s career, to the actual socio-political matters of today. Keep reading and be delighted by one of the most shining stars of her generation!
BIOGRAPHY
In April 2019 Marina Viotti was awarded the “Best Young Singer of the year” at the prestigious International Opera Awards in London. She also won the 3rd prize at the “Concours de Genève” in 2016, and the International Belcanto Prize at the Rossini Festival in Wildbad in 2015. After studying flute, Marina Viotti first experimented with jazz, gospel and heavy metal. She got a master’s degree in philosophy and literature, before she began her vocal training with Heidi Brunner in Vienna and continued at the Lausanne University of Music in the class of Brigitte Balleys. She completed her studies with a diploma as a soloist and studied Belcanto with Raul Gimenez and Alessandra Rossi. Marina Viotti’s first steps on the operatic stage after her studies took her to the Lausanne Opera, the Lucerne Theatre and, as part of the young ensemble, to the Grand Théâtre de Genève. She made her debut as Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri) at the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad in 2015. Since then, she sang roles roles like Olga (Evgheni Onegin) and Bradamante (Alcina) in Opera du Rhin, Elisabetta (Maria Stuarda) and Isabella in Lucerne, Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Bolshoi and in Dresden, Melibea (Viaggio a Reims) in Valencia and at the Liceu, where she also debuted Nicklausse/Muse (Les contes d’Hoffmann) last season. In 2021-22, she made her debut as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) in a new production at the Staatsoper Berlin under the direction of Barenboim, and will sing her first Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) there later this season. Marina will also come back to la Scala, this time singing Maddalena (Rigoletto), a role she sang already in Zürich and Münich Staatsoper. Further debuts include Orlovsky (Die Fledermaus) in Firenze Maggio Musicale, Arsace (Semiramide) in Lausanne, and Alceste (title role) in Roma. Marina Viotti is a sought-after concert singer. Her concert repertoire includes among others: Mozart C Messe, The Seven last Words of our Saviour (Haydn), Beethoven’s Mass in D Major and Symphony No. 9, Kindertotenlieder (Mahler), Der Rose Pilgerfahrt (Schumann), La petite messe solennelle (Rossini), Verdi’s Requiem, El amor Brujo (De Falla), Le Poème de l’amour et de la mer (Chausson), under the baton of maestro Corboz, maestro Dudamel, or maestro De Billy, to name but a few. Moreover, Marina Viotti is regularly invited to festivals all over the world, to present her very uniquerecital/shows such as “Love has no borders” (voice, piano, sax and contrebasse), “Porque existe otro querer” (duo voice/guitar) or “About last night”(cabaret).
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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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