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The Pearl of Cluj Culture

Cluj boasts the most important cultural vitality in Romania, after the Capital city of the country, Bucharest, in terms of cultural infrastructure, participation in cultural events and creative economy.

Here, for more than half a century, the public 'Transylvania' Philharmonic in Cluj is proud of its prestigious activity in the field of the concert music, because the institution managed to attract over the years prominent artists, including maestros of the Cluj school of directors, like Antonin Ciolan and his disciples, Erich Bergel and Emil Simon. The 198 members of the main orchestra have travelled all over the world to enchant with their art the audience in various countries, to mention Paris, in 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Budapest, in the spring of 2013. However, the 'pearl of the crown' is - to the opinion of manager Marius Tabacu, the Philharmonic Choir, whose 70 members, conducted by Cornel Groza, have impressed with their quality and virtuosity in the interpretation of music sheets, from vocal symphonic and opera works to a cappella. Four of the Philharmonic's instrumentalists set in 1987 the basis for a quartet which was later granted the status of 'state quartet', owing to its professionalism.

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The National Art Museum
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The Romanian Opera House
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“Puck” Puppet Theatre
Transilvania International Film Festival
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

The Romanian Opera in Cluj
The Romanian Opera in Cluj
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