60TH INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONGREEN VOICES CITY OF BUSSETO

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by Opera Charm Team

May 26, 2024

Registration is now open for the competition aimed at singers aged between 18 and 38, organised by the Municipality of Busseto in honour and memory of Carlo Bergonzi, on the centenary of the famous tenor's birth, with the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism, chaired by Stefano Nevicati and organised by the Teatro Regio di Parma.

Jonathan Friend, Alessandro Galoppini, Francesco Izzo, Pal Moe, Cristiano Sandri, Karen Stone, Ilias Tzempetonidis in the jury chaired by Carlo Fontana.

And for this special edition that will take place from 2 to 7 September, at the Finale-Concerto with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, conducted by Fabrizio Cassi, a second jury of professionals and enthusiasts chosen by the Municipality of Busseto will award a special prize.

Registration deadline 28 June 2024

Entries are open from 27 May to 28 June 2024 for the 60th Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto International Voice Competition, organised by the Municipality of Busseto, in honour and memory of Carlo Bergonzi on the centenary of the birth of the famous tenor, under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism, chaired by the Mayor of Busseto Stefano Nevicati and organised by the Teatro Regio di Parma.

Aimed at all singers aged between 18 and 35 (sopranos and tenors) and between 18 and 38 (mezzo-sopranos, contraltos, baritones and basses), the competition will take place in Busseto from 2 to 7 September 2024. Application forms must be received exclusively online by 14:00 (UTC+1) on 28 June 2024, creating their own profile at the following links distinguished by vocal register sopranos and tenors, mezzo-sopranos, altos, baritones and basses, accompanied by two audio-video recordings and the documentation indicated in the call for entries, available at teatroregioparma.it and vociverdiane.com.

The Preliminary Stage of the Competition, aimed at selecting a maximum of 50 candidates, will take place on the basis of the documentation submitted and the audiovisual material provided, which will be assessed by Alessio Vlad, Artistic Director of the Teatro Regio di Parma and Francesco Izzo, Education Director of the Accademia Verdiana. Admission to the Competition Phase will be notified by e-mail to the selected candidates by 15 July 2024.

The Competition Phase will take place from 2 to 7 September at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto according to the following schedule: Eliminatory rounds (2, 3 September, in which a maximum of 24 semi-finalists will be selected), Semifinals (4 September, in which a maximum of 12 finalists will be selected), Piano and Orchestra Rehearsals of the finalists (6 September) and the Final Concert open to the public (7 September), in which the finalists will be accompanied by the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Fabrizio Cassi and the winners will be announced.

An important new feature of this edition is the day dedicated to the Vocal coaching of the finalists (5 September), in which each of the finalists will be able to prepare the Verdi aria that they will perform at the Finale-Concerto with Francesco Izzo.

The first four classified in the competition China Voci Verdiane 2024 will also take part in the Competition, according to the following terms: the first classified will be directly admitted to the Final-Concert, the second classified will be admitted to the Semifinal and the third and fourth classified will be admitted to the Eliminatory Round.

The Jury for the Competition Phase is chaired by Carlo Fontana and composed of Jonathan Friend (Metropolitan Opera, New York), Francesco Izzo (Teatro Regio di Parma), Pal Christian Moe (Glyndebourne Festival, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian National Opera, Narodni Divadlo Prague), Karen Stone (Opera Europa) and, for the Finale-Concerto only, by Alessandro Galoppini (Teatro alla Scala, Milan), Cristiano Sandri (Teatro Regio, Turin), Ilias Tzempetonidis (Teatro di San Carlo, Naples).

The Jury will award the 1st Prize of 8,000 euros, the 2nd Prize of 5,000 euros and the 3rd Prize of 3,000 euros to the first three winners. The Teatro Regio di Parma will choose at least one of the finalists to be engaged for its artistic activity during the year 2025. Similarly, representatives of other theatres on the jury may award artistic scripts to any finalist candidate, regardless of the final ranking.

On the occasion of the 60th Voci Verdiane International Voice Competition, a second Jury of professionals and enthusiasts chosen by the Municipality of Busseto, present only at the Final Concert, will assign a special prize.

The first three classified, and any other finalist candidates indicated by the Jury, will be invited to participate in the Winners’ Concert, with piano accompaniment, to be held in spring 2025 in Roncole Verdi (Busseto) at the house where Giuseppe Verdi was born.

The complete regulations and entry links for the 60th International Voci Verdiane Competition Città di Busseto are available online at vociverdiane.com and at teatroregioparma.it.

For information: Segreteria Concorso Internazionale Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto, vociverdiane@teatroregioparma.it

The 60th edition of the Concorso Internazionale Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto is promoted by the Municipality of Busseto and organised by the Teatro Regio di Parma. Under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Cariparma Foundation. In collaboration with La Toscanini, National Institute of Verdi Studies.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE A L'OPÉRA DE PARIS

October 2024

OPERA CHARM TEAM

PREMIERE OF ‘DON CARLO’ AT WIENER STAATSOPER

September 2024

Opera Charm Team

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.

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.

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.

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.

BIANCA L. NICA

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