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INTRODUCTION
One of the most remarkable things about humans is that we are all different from so many points of view, but we can have our minds and souls united through the power of arts, one of them being music. Opera is such a complex manifestation and it can be understood and submitted in so many ways. We have so many options nowadays and we tend to choose online platforms to listen to music, rather than going to a theatre. We truly appreciate the artists who can succeed both in the online and offline world, one of these examples being the British Montenegrin Soprano Tamara Radjenović who not only sings on stages all over the world, but also takes care of her online audience by posting music videos with her dearest arias and songs. Maria Isabela Nica invited her to talk about her work sessions with Montserrat Caballe and what impact it had on her career. Tamara has a wide-ranging concert activity, that is why she couldn’t speak about all her performances, so Isabela picked the two recitals she gave at Carnegie Hall as a topic. She also talks about her passion for fashion and how was it like to be featured in Elle Magazine and how she became the ambassador of the Council of Europe on the “Block the Hatred Speech”, a campaign for the Western Balkans. As you can already see, she is such a complex artist, who developed multilaterally and exploited each of her passions separately to finally meet and form the person she is today. Isn’t that wonderful? Don’t hesitate to follow your dreams and explore your talents just like Tamara did. Let her be your inspiration today and keep reading her interview!
BIOGRAPHY
Tamara Radjenović, started her musical education playing the piano at the age of 6 at the music school in Podgorica and later obtained her high school diploma at the conservatory in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She graduated in Voice Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, where she was awarded a Scholarship to do her Master’s degree. At the age of 17, she performed with the members of the Wiener Philharmoniker at Salzburg Festival at the opera project for the youngsters, in cooperation with the American Austrian Foundation and the Wiener Philharmoniker. At the age of 19 and 20, she was chosen by Montserrat Caballé to sing at her Gala Concerts in Zaragoza, Spain, and was also visiting her regularly in Barcelona for private lessons. So far, Tamara Radjenović has performed in different national and international solo concerts, festivals, master classes, competitions in Spain, Italy, USA, Austria, Germany, England, Romania, Slovenia, Mauritius, Netherlands, Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro. At the age of 23, she debuted at Carnegie Hall sharing the stage with Operalia winner tenor Mario Chang and soprano Majo Morales, and one year later she made another solo recital at Carnegie Hall, accompanied by Djordje Nešić. She also performed recitals in St James’s Piccadilly in London (England), Montenegrin National Theatre in Podgorica (Montenegro), Opus Theatre in Hastings (England), Teatre de Sarria in Barcelona (Spain), Teatro Comunale di Barletta (Italy), Kolarac Concert Hall in Belgrade (Serbia), City Hall of Novi Sad (Serbia), Novi Sad Synagogue (Serbia), Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall in London (England), Victoria and Albert Museum in London (England), Pushkin house in London (England), Schloss Laudon in Vienna (Austria) and many more. In 2021 Tamara Radjenović had the opportunity to have a concert with a Metropolitan star, baritone David Bižić at Kolarac Concert Hall in Belgrade and with the pianist Djordje Nešić. The same year, Tamara performed with Makris Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Predrag Gosta at Kolarac Concert Hall in Belgrade and Synagogue Novi Sad. The oldest daily newspaper in Serbia “Politika” wrote how the “hall had a thunderous applause after Tamara sang famous arias of classical music”. Regarding the opera roles, she has done, the most recent was Mimi in La Boheme at the Mediterranean Opera Studio Festival in Sicily, Italy under the baton of M° Leonardo Catalanotto. Other roles included Anne in Merry Wives of Windsor, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romilda in Serse.
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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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