STEFANO LA COLLA RETURNS AT THE LA MONNAIE/ DE MUNT FOR PUCCINI’S TURANDOT

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by OPERA CHARM TEAM

June 12, 2024

One hundred years after Giacomo Puccini’s death in Brussels, La Monnaie presents a new production of the opera he hoped to finish there.

Performances on June 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21th, 23th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 30th and July 6th, 2024.

One hundred years after Giacomo Puccini’s death in Brussels, La Monnaie presents a new production of the opera he hoped to finish there.

Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels in 1924, leaving the score of his last opera unfinished. A century later, conductor Ouri Bronchti and director Christophe Coppens prove that the work has more to offer than its iconic aria ‘Nessun dorma’. Coppens sets Turandot in present-day Hong Kong, where an immensely rich family is losing itself in money, power and violence. Trying to escape her mother’s iron grip, the rebellious Turandot finds herself in a maelstrom of derailed fantasy that drives her to extremes.

Stefano la Colla returns at La Monnaie for Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot, in a production signed by Christophe Coppens, alongside Ewa Resin (La Principessa Turandot), Ning Liang (L’Imperatore Altoum), Michele Pertusi (Timur) & Ruth Iniesta (Liu).

One of the most valued tenors in the international opera scene, Stefano La Colla was born in Turin in a Sicilian family, then he studied and graduated from the Conservatory “Pietro Mascagni” in Livorno. He continued his studies with Luciana Serra and Carlo Meliciani and he took part in several masterclasses, also by Magda Olivero and by Katia Ricciarelli. He has won the First Prize at Voci Pucciniane competition in Torre del Lago. After the first successes in Italian theaters, he started his international career in 2011, but the turning point was in 2015 with his glamorous debut at Teatro alla Scala as Calaf in Turandot (first event of La Scala for EXPO), under the baton of Riccardo Chailly.

He has sung in some of the most prestigious opera houses both in Italy, Teatro alla Scala, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Arena di Verona, Sferisterio di Macerata, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and abroad, such as Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Liceu de Barcelona, De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, La Monnaie Brussels, Den Nordske Opera Oslo, Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Hamburg.

The Opera – Synopsis

Marriage is out of the question for Princess Turandot. To avoid trying to knot with one or other stranger, she lays down a terrible rule: Anyone seeking her hand must solve three riddles. While three right answers will result in marriage, a single wrong answer will result in death by beheading. Blinded by his love for the emperor’s daughter, the mysterious Prince Calaf takes up the challenge.

Directed by Christophe Coppens, with the musical direction by Ouri Bronchti, the cast features Svetlana Aksenova (June, 16,19, 23, 28 & July 6)/ Ewa Vesin (La Principessa Turandot), Ning Liang (L’Imperatore Altoum), Michele Pertusi (Timur), Amadi Lagha (June 16, 19, 23, 28 & July 6)/ Stefano La Colla (Il Principe Ignoto – Calaf), Ruth Iniesta (June 16, 19, 23, 28 & July 6)/ Venera Gimadieva (Liù), Leon Košavić (Ping/Un Mandarino), Alexander Marev (Pang/Il Principe di Persia), Valentin Thill (Pong), La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Choral Academy & La Monnaie Children’s and Youth Choirs, led by Benoît Giaux.

Christophe Coppens is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist, designer and opera director. His main focus is his art practice, yet his work always balances in the folds of different worlds: it lives in the cracks of the art, fashion and design world as well as opera. One medium informs, feeds and influences the other which gives his work a unique flavor and edge. Christophe Coppens initially studied drama at the Brussels Conservatorium, and whilst pursuing a path as actor and director – quite by chance and following an invitation to Paris from a renowned magazine – developed a global career on the edge of fashion, design and art.

Vocal coach, Opera Repetiteur and Accompanist, Ouri Bronchti has been Head of Music at La Monnaie since 2015, and Assistant to Music Director Alain Altinoglu. After attending the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne (piano solo and accompaniment) and furthering his education at the Royal College of Music in London (accompaniment lied & melody, and vocal coach), he completed his studies at the National Opera Studio in London. Apart from the upcoming production of Turandot, at La Monnaie he has already conducted the second part of Is this the End? by Jean-Luc Fafchamps, several performances of Puccini’s Il Trittico and the Mozart for Kids concert.

Turandot goes on stage at La Monnaie on June 14th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21th, 23th, 25th, 27th, 28th & 30th, 2024

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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.

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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