The
Romanian Opera House in Cluj
Cluj-Napoca is the only city in Romania
with two national theaters and opera houses (a Romanian and a Hungarian
Theater and Opera) and a lively cultural life. The Romanian Opera House
in Cluj is the oldest in Greater Romania.
The 'Lucian Blaga' National Theater
and the Opera House are hosted by the centennial building raised in the
beginning of the 20th century wooden market. Its respectable age and remarkable
conservation is a good enough reason to just visit the baroque-secession
imposing building, not to mention the beauty of the performances that
it stages, together with the dedication and talent of the staff who bring
the characters to life.
Just as one should savor a delicate cake, an act of culture should be
enjoyed to its fullest flavor, with the mind, soul and the body. The Italian
operas mingle with the German, French and of course Romanian lyrical works.
Since the grand opening of the Opera House in 1921, with Verdi's 'Aida',
the works of the Italian composer have been constantly produced on the
Cluj stage, in a repertory which reaches nowadays more than 50 titles
and spans on 250 years of world culture. The Opera House in Cluj is preparing
two premieres, with 'Don Carlo' by Verdi and 'Tannhauser', by Wagner,
in December 2013, to mark 'The Year of Verdi and Wagner'. Even if the
Russian composers have been less present on the stage in Cluj, the production
with 'Evgheni Oneghin' is due to be staged in 2014.
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The imposing building is brought
to life by an Opera House staff of 263 people, be they artists and technical
specialists. The soloists perform here either as employees or guests and
are some of the best in Romania, being requested for collaborations in
the country, as well as all over the world. Some of the worth-mentioning
artists who began their career in Cluj are Alexandru Agache, George Petean,
Stefan Pop, Tatiana Lisnic, Carmen Oprisan and Adrian Sampetrean.
The institution hosts 8-9 premieres per
stage and produces 3 performances every week, the same as the Bucharest
Opera House, which has, however, a staff three times more numerous as
compared to the one in Cluj. As for the choice of the repertory, the manager
of the Opera in Cluj, Marius Budoiu, says that 'All over Europe there
is this dilemma: to offer the audience what it wishes for or to try to
set forth challenges. This dilemma should be solved with efforts of bringing
to an equilibrium or armistice'. Even if the local audience has proven
to be rather conservative, at the side of the consecrated titles there
are new challenges as well. Two of them are Wagner's 'Tannhauser' and
Igor Stravinski's 'Rake's Progress'. The latter proved to be less appealing
to the public in Cluj, in spite of being a masterpiece of the lyrical
stage. Despite a certain conservationism, the montages also deal with
some contemporary themes, to mention the Holocaust (in the performance
with Nabucco 13), and mingle the traditionalist and modern approaches
so far as staging is concerned.
The aforementioned staging of German composer
Richard Wagner, Tannhauser, is supposed to offer the public an inciting
subject from the point of view of the spiritual individual evolution.
One cannot expect from this famous work a setting with knights with swords
or castles, but one which is addresses the 21st century attendant. The
production will be honored by Kerilynn Wilsow (conductor), from Canada,
and tenor Efe Kislali from Turkey, as the manager of the Opera House detailed
in an interview.
The Cluj Opera House is partner to several
local, national and international festivals, as the oldest Romanian Opera
House. The Festival of the National Opera Houses, last year's first edition
in spring, offered the audience some of the best Romanian opera productions
and thematic debates. The elegant and colorful Opera Ball in January is
the long-waited for occasion of the local and international VIPs to show
off as well as to honor some of the prominent figures of Cluj.
The manager of the Opera House, tenor
Marius Budoiu, fulfills this position together with an outstanding didactic
career at the 'Gheorghe Dima' Music Academy in Cluj. He continues the
traditional collaboration with the students of the canto section, who
are offered the chance to make it to the stage. 'I insist on preparing
our future artists, in order to help the most talented ones develop themselves',
says Marius Budoiu. The promising artists are accepted on the stage, in
the choir and, of course, in the orchestra of the Opera House, as well
as on the occasion of their graduation examination. For them and even
people in the public, the Opera House set up a studio in order to value
the local latent talents, because 'Everyone deserves a chance', as the
Opera PR manager Sabin Rus points it. The activity of this studio results
in an average of 2-3 productions which parallel the yearly stage.
Gabriela Popa
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