A Peek into the Fascinating World of Opera

Bucharest National Opera House in the Enescu Concerts Series

Thu 04 Apr | Romanian Cultural Institute

Standing ovations from a sold-out hall last night for soprano Iulia Isaev, tenor Alin Stoica and pianist Liana Mares! It was a dream recital featuring unique, internationally acclaimed Romanian voices organised within our Enescu Concerts Series in partnership with Opera Națională București / Romanian National Opera in Bucharest. The concert took place in the presence of Maestro Daniel Jinga, the General Manager of the National Opera, who flew straight from a general rehearsal in Bucharest to support this exceptional event dedicated to promoting the International Opera Festival in Bucharest.

The event was opened by Raluca Ioana Cimpoiasu, Deputy Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in London, who welcomed the public, both present and warm, as well as the distinguished musicians and speakers. As the event continued, musicologist Oltea Șerban-Pârâu spoke about the challenges and satisfactions of the Bucharest International Opera Festival, a project incubated by the National Opera, and invited the audience to visit our capital from 15 to 24 June and attend the performances planned for this year's edition. British journalist Peter Quantrill then took the floor. He spoke about his visit to the Festival last year, describing the powerful impression he had of the quality of the musicians and events he witnessed.

The first part of the event concluded with the screening of a short documentary on the 2024 edition of the Festival. The second part of the evening was a triumph of the Romanian vocal art, with Iulia Isaev and Alin Stoica at their best, mesmerising over 200 people who witnessed a carefully curated programme including evergreen arias and lieder by Romanian and international composers such as Enescu, Dendrino, Puccini, Mascagni, Bizet, and Poulenc. Pianist Liana Mareş accompanied the singers.

Soprano Iulia Isaev saw the peak of her artistic career in 2019, when she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the title role of G. Puccini's Tosca. A graduate of the National University of Music in Bucharest, she distinguished herself from the start of her student years. Following her artistic debut on the stage of the Bucharest National Opera, she was invited to perform in some of the most prestigious opera houses in Europe, Asia, and the United States. These include the Vienna Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris – Palais Garnier, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro La Fenice and Teatro Malibran in Venice, New National Theatre Tokyo, Seoul Opera House, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Throughout her career, Isaev performed leading roles in iconic productions and collaborated with renowned conductors, as well as with world-class opera and film directors, including Franco Zeffirelli, Peter Brook, Richard Eyre, Graham Vick, Robert Wilson, Luigi Proietti, and Hugo de Ana. She has also performed in a series of vocal-symphonic concerts, both in Romania and abroad, recorded opera arias and vocal-symphonic concerts at the Concert Hall of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company, and participated in numerous radio and television programmes. Iulia Isaev is frequently invited to serve on the jury for various singing competitions in Romania and has conducted multiple masterclasses. She is a soloist at the Bucharest National Opera and an Associate Professor, PhD, at the National University of Music in Bucharest.

Critics describe Alin Stoica as “a tenor with a colossal voice as has not been heard for some time on Romanian stages and beyond.” He studied singing at the National University of Music and, in the 2019/20 season, made his debut as Cavaradossi (Tosca) at the Gärtnerplatztheater München, a role he had taken on the previous season at the National Opera Bucharest. He got invited by the Gärtnerplatztheater to reprise the role in 2020/21. In the past seasons, Alin Stoica debuted as Don José (Carmen) at the Festival Bad Immling and was engaged for Amleto at the well-known Bregenz Lake Festival. He was invited to sing Turriddu (Cavalleria Rusticana) at the Teatro Jesi (Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini), as well as for concerts at the Theatre Görlitz and in Indonesia. The young tenor regularly performs at the National Opera Bucharest and is also a concert singer, periodically appearing on Romanian television. He participated in several competitions and won the Grand Prix of the Paul-Constantinescu Competition, as well as the Special Award of the Romanian Broadcast Corporation, at the International Competition Grand Prix de l’Opéra. At the Sarzana Competition, he won 2nd prize, the Audience prize, and the Luciano Pavarotti Prize, which led Nicoletta Mantovani to invite him to sing at the Pavarotti Memorial Concert in the Arena di Verona alongside stars such as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, and Angela Gheorghiu in the fall of 2017.

A graduate of the Faculty of Musical Interpretation at the National University of Music Bucharest, in the class of Professor Veronica Gaspar, pianist Liana Mareș also completed the Harpsichord section of the same prestigious institution, under the guidance of Professor Ogneanca Lefterescu. Immediately after graduating, she was employed by the National Opera in Bucharest while also collaborating with other institutions such as the "George Enescu" Philharmonic in Bucharest, the "Ion Dacian" National Operetta Theatre, and the Romanian Broadcasting Corporation. She has performed recitals at the Romanian Athenaeum, Sala Dalles, Cotroceni Museum, Peleș Museum, and in concert halls in Craiova, Oradea, and Brăila. Her opera accompaniment repertoire includes works by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Gaetano Donizetti, as well as Georges Bizet, Engelbert Humperdinck, Richard Wagner, Henry Purcell, and Peter Ruzicka. Alongside the troupe of the National Opera of Bucharest, Liana Mareș has toured in France, Greece, and Israel. Since June 2011, she has been a trainer of lyrical performers, a title awarded by the Accademia Teatro alla Scala.

British journalist Peter Quantrill writes and speaks about music. His work has appeared in Gramophone, The Strad, Pianist, Hi-Fi News, Bachtrack, and many other print and online publications. He also contributes essays on music and musicians to performing arts organisations and record labels, such as the Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and Deutsche Grammophon (DG). He gives concert introductions across the UK and abroad, and he has given talks at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Peter Quantrill wrote extensively about the George Enescu Festival and Competition and also published an interview with conductor Cristian Macelaru. Last year, he attended the Bucharest International Opera Festival and wrote about two of the concerts included in the programme.

Daniel Jinga is Choir Master, Principal Conductor of the Muntenia Philharmonic from Târgoviște and the Bucharest Metropolitan Orchestra. Currently, Daniel Jinga is the managing director of the Bucharest National Opera. He stood out as the second conductor of the Madrigal Chamber Choir and the founding conductor of the “Accoustic” Chamber Choir, with which he approaches a complex repertoire palette: sacred music, folk processing, European revival, contemporary music and theater and film music, collaborating with directors such as Alexandru Tocilescu, Alexandru Darie, Alexander Hausvater, Alice Barb, George Ivașcu, Alexandru Dabija. He is the initiator and conductor of several symphonic or “mainstream” pop-rock projects, which featured protagonists such as Vlad Mirita, PHOENIX, IRIS, Gheorghe Zamfir, Angela Gheorghiu, Valentina Naforniță, Teodor Ilincăi, Felicia Filip, and many others.

Photography Alex Coman