INTERVIEWS

Mihai Damian
If you always maintain curiosity and openness to continuous improvement, you can be confident that you’re on the right path.

Today, we speak with Romanian baritone Mihai Damian, 2025 Operalia winner and recipient of the Rolex Audience and Cultural Prizes. Known for his powerful tone and compelling stage presence, Mihai is rapidly gaining international acclaim, with upcoming debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera & Ballet, and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. A 2024 graduate of the Gheorghe Dima National Academy of Music, he has already performed a wide range of roles and earned numerous prestigious awards. In this conversation with Alice Lechner, Mihai shares his experiences at Operalia, his upcoming debuts, his passion for music, and much more.

 
 
Alice Lechner
Liubov Nosova
That's why this profession is such a mistery - and I believe it's a life long process of learning and developing, what will never make it boring.

Russian conductor, pianist, and organist Liubov Nosova is rapidly gaining international acclaim. Winner of Second Prize at the 2024 La Maestra Competition, she will join Ensemble Intercontemporain as Assistant Conductor in 2026. Having led orchestras across Europe, North Africa, and Russia, Liubov continues to captivate audiences with her artistry and vision.

Alice Lechner
Carolina Lopez Moreno: The Soprano Who Brings Soul to Every Stage
Success means for me that I live my dream every day and come closer to my goal, without losing sight of why I became an artist.

Bolivian-Albanian soprano Carolina López Moreno, born and raised in Germany, has won international acclaim for her versatility and powerful stage presence. From Puccini to Verdi, she has performed leading roles at venues like Carnegie Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, and the Puccini Festival Torre del Lago. In this interview with Alice Lechner, she shares insights into her multicultural roots, artistic journey, and the passion that drives her to bring opera to life.

Alice Lechner
Ekaterine Buachidze
I believe that if motivation comes from expression rather than expectation, authenticity follows naturally.

Georgian mezzosoprano Ekaterine Buachidze, is one of opera’s most exciting young voices. A graduate of the Vano Sarajishvili State Conservatoire and alumna of the Bayerische Staatsoper Opera Studio, she has already captivated audiences with roles from La traviata to Madama Butterfly and won First Prize at Operalia. In this conversation with Alice Lechner, Ekaterine shares her experiences at Operalia, her thrilling last-minute jump-in as Rosina at the Arena di Verona, her insights into the opera world, and her hopes and dreams for the future.

Alice Lechner
Finding His Voice: Hadi Alibeigli on Opera, Origins, and Ambition
The more I learn, the more clearly, I understand where I come from, and the more deeply my artistic identity settles within me.
Alice Lechner
From Stage to Heart: Caterina Piva’s Opera Journey
I believe it’s essential never to lose oneself, because our uniqueness is truly what makes us interesting.
Alice Lechner
The Confused Tenor Speaks: Inside the World of Jose Simerilla Romero
Our job is not to compete with noise, but to create moments of stillness, intensity, and truth that remind people why live art matters.
Alice Lechner
Chelsea Zurflüh: On Opera, Roles, and Life Beyond the Stage
I realized that opera can touch people’s hearts and bring together young and old, musicians and non-musicians alike.
Alice Lechner
Elena Stikhina: A Flame in Full Voice
We live in a culture that celebrates success and visibility, but sometimes the greater victory is recognizing your limitations and acknowledging that something requires more time and work.
Alice Lechner
Interview_Page_Filter
Mihai Damian
If you always maintain curiosity and openness to continuous improvement, you can be confident that you’re on the right path.
Alice Lechner
Liubov Nosova
That's why this profession is such a mistery - and I believe it's a life long process of learning and developing, what will never make it boring.
Alice Lechner
Carolina Lopez Moreno: The Soprano Who Brings Soul to Every Stage
Success means for me that I live my dream every day and come closer to my goal, without losing sight of why I became an artist.
Alice Lechner
Alexandra Yangel: Motherhood, Music, and the Freedom to Evolve
Women are perfectly capable of making their own choices, and what matters most is that they’re given the respect and space to do so.
Alice Lechner
Laugh, Sing, Repeat: Gurgen Baveyan on the Joys and Challenges of an Opera Career
This career is full of challenges, ups and downs, and a lot of uncertainty — but that’s also what makes it beautiful.
Alice Lechner
From Ulaanbaatar to the World Stage: Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar’s Operatic Odyssey
I believe it is my duty to help more people experience and feel this great art.
Alice Lechner

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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BIANCA L. NICA

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