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INTRODUCTION
Ossian Huskinson is a rising star in the opera world, known for his rich, resonant voice and compelling stage presence. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and a former Harewood Young Artist at English National Opera, he has performed with leading companies such as Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra de Toulon, and Garsington Opera. Now a Jette Parker Artist at the Royal Opera House, he continues to impress in both opera and concert performances across Europe. We delve into his journey, achievements, and what lies ahead. In a conversation with Ana Stamate, Ossian talked about his beginnings of career, about his journey at Jette Parker Programme, about his performance at Angelotti in Tosca at the Royal Opera and Ballet, about his long-term goals & the evolution of opera industry.
BIOGRAPHY
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, where he was one of the esteemed Bicentenary Scholars, he studied there for four years with Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham, before graduating in 2021. His recent performance at the Tenor Viñas Finals 2024 earned him Fifth Prize, as well as the Mozart Prize. He was also one of the final round participants for the Neue-Stimmen competition 2022, and a finalist of the Paris Opera Competition 2023. He now joins the incredible roster of singers at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as one of their Jette Parker Artists. At the Academy, Ossian was one of the soloists for the Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata series, in addition to being a member of the Academy Song Circle. Ossian made his principal debut with Royal Academy Opera performing the role of King René in the Royal Academy Opera’s Spring 2019 production of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in a performance which was described as “resonant and richly musical”. Other roles at the Academy include Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Le Philosophe in Massenet’s Chérubin, and Bottom in a socially distanced production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ossian made a great impression in Garsington Opera’s 2021 Summer Festival as one of their Young Artists, where he sang Zaretsky (in addition to chorus and covering the role of Gremin) in Eugene Onegin, and was awarded the Simon Sandbach award in recognition of his contribution to Garsington Opera’s productions. He returned to Garsington in 2022, performing as Pluto in John Caird’s extraordinary five-star production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, conducted by Laurence Cummings, which has since been shortlisted by the Royal Philharmonic Society for their Opera and Music Theatre Award. Ossian performed with Garsington again in 2023, as Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, and also in 2024 as Jupiter in Rameau’s Platée, making his fourth consecutive Summer with them. A regular performer at English National Opera, he made his debut there in 2021, performing the role of Bob Becket in their brand new production of HMS Pinafore, and Harashta the Poacher in their production of The Cunning Little Vixen. He spent two years there as a Harewood Young Artist, and has sung Sciarrone in Tosca, Angel in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life and Speaker in The Magic Flute as part of their programme. An international artist, Ossian has made his debut with Deutsche Oper Berlin, guesting in roles such as Ufficiale (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Carceriere (Tosca), and as Pietro in a brand new production of Simon Boccanegra, directed by Vasily Barkhatov and conducted by Jader Bignamini. He has also sung the role of Seneca in Ted Huffman’s iconic production of L’incoronazione di Poppea with Opéra de Toulon. Outside of opera, Ossian is also a well-established performer of oratorio, and has performed in numerous concerts across the UK and Europe, including Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Lincoln Cathedral, Handel’s Messiah with Lincoln Cathedral and Huddersfield Choral Society, Bach’s St John Passion with Jonathan Willcocks at the Leith Hill Music Festival, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Chichester Singers, Verdi’s Requiem with Exeter Choral Society and The Royal Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 as part of the Beethovenfest in Bonn.
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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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