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INTRODUCTION
Argentinian-Spanish American tenor Jose Simerilla Romero has been praised for his “ample voice of arresting quality” and “power, passion, and lyrical finesse.” In 2025/26, he returns to La Traviata and Madama Butterfly across Europe and Latin America, with performances as Rodolfo in La bohème and Cavaradossi in Tosca. An award-winning graduate of Valencia College and Stetson University, he has trained with Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, and Dutch National Opera. In a conversation with Alice Lechner, he shares insights into his signature roles, reflects on his approach to teaching, discusses the inspiration behind the Confused Tenor Society, and offers a glimpse into his artistic philosophy and career journey.
BIOGRAPHY
Praised for his “ample voice of arresting quality” (Opera News) and “power, passion and lyrical finesse” (Opera Magazine), in the 2025/26 season, Argentinian-Spanish American tenor Jose Simerilla Romero returns to the role of Alfredo in La Traviata with Theater Basel, Komische Oper Berlin, Festival Internacional de Santa Lucia, and in his debut with Bregenzer Festspiele. He also returns to the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in his debut with Teatro Municipal de Santiago, sings Rodolfo in La bohéme with Semperoper Dresden and Teatro Massimo Di Palermo. In addition, he sings Ildemaro in Dalinda with Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Cavaradossi in Tosca with HNK Split Opera, and a gala performance with the Sigulda Opera Festival in Latvia.
Last season he sang Alfredo in La Traviata with Theater Basel, Dorset Opera and Opera Western Reserve, sang his first performances of Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele in his debut with Semperoper Dresden, his first performances of Cavaradossi in Tosca in a co-production with Opéra de Limoges and Opéra de Vichy, made his Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Ismaele in Nabucco, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in his debut with New National Theater Tokyo, returned to Staatsoper Hannover for staged performances of Verdi’s Requiem, and joined acclaimed soprano Eric Nakamura in concert with Latvian National Opera.
Other recent performances include his English National Opera debut as Alfredo in La Traviata, his role and company debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Dorset Opera, joined the Neue Philharmonie München in concert, and returned to Staatsoper Hannover for his role debut as Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. In addition, Mr. Romero sang the role of Laërte in Hamlet in his Komische Oper debut, Rodolfo in La bohéme, Prince Gwidon in Zar Saltan, and Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites with Staatsoper Hannover, both Alfredo in La Traviata and Rodolfo in La bohéme with Nederlandse Reisopera, made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Jaquino in Fidelio under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, Rodolfo in La bohéme with the Grand Tetons Music Festival under the baton of Donald Runnicles, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto in his debuts with both Florida Grand Opera and Daytona Symphony, his San Francisco Symphony debut as the Shepard in Oedipus Rex.
On the concert stage, the tenor has performed Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Bach’s St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, and Brahms’ Liebeslier Walzer.
Mr. Simerilla Romero is an Award Winner from the 41st International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, the Chicago International Music Competition, the Camerata Bardi International Vocal Competition, the Jensen Foundation International Vocal Competition, the Opera Foundation, Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, the Manhattan International Music Competition, Kyrenia Opera Vocal Competition, Vienna International Music Competition, Berliner International Music Competition, the Vero Beach Opera’s “Rising Star” International Competition, the Orpheus Vocal Competition, and the Tampa Bay Symphony Jack Heller Competition.
He has participated in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, the LA Opera Young Artist Program, the Dutch National Opera & Ballet Studio, the Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute, and holds degrees from both Valencia College and Stetson University.
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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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