2025 EDITIONS:

OPERA CHARM

MAGAZINE

No.1/2025

SEE OUR NEW EDITION OF:

OPERA CHARM

MAGAZINE

No.9/2023

We are excited to present the 33rd edition of OPERA Charm Magazine, your monthly dose of charm from the world of opera. The renowned Violeta Urmana graces the cover of our magazine’s November 2023 edition, just as she did for our third issue, which was published in 2020.

2023 EDITIONS:

OPERA CHARM

MAGAZINE

No.8/2023

In front of the 5th issue of OPERA Charm Magazine in 2023, I want to share with you, first of all, a glorious summer, the chance to explore as many beautiful places where music is made exquisitely by the most sought-after artists of today’s panorama, but also the moment of respiro, to gather up our forces and start this beautiful journey in September again, once the theatres will open their seasons again!

INTERVIEWS

Alexandre Dratwicki
It is important for musicians to maintain a critical distance from the score, as for the past forty years there has been a tendency to advocate an almost sacred respect for it.

Alexandre Dratwicki, Artistic Director of the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice, is a musicologist specializing in 19th-century French music and a leading figure in the rediscovery of the French Romantic repertoire. A PhD graduate from Paris IV-Sorbonne and former fellow of the Académie de France in Rome (Villa Medici), he has combined academic research, teaching, and work as a producer for Radio France. In this interview with Alice Lechner, Mr. Dratwicki discusses his work as Artistic Director of the Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice and reflects on the rediscovery of 19th-century French music. He shares insights into performance practice, programming choices, and the challenges of bringing forgotten Romantic repertoire to contemporary audiences.

 
 
Alice Lechner
Jamie Woollard
Picking myself up and being open to new ideas from all directions kept me learning and developing quickly.
Alice Lechner
Breana Stillman
It’s about creating something that has a lasting impact, not only on the artists involved, but on the communities around them, and using music as a way to inspire, connect, and open new possibilities.
Bianca L. Nica
Vincenzo Costanzo
In a world that constantly raises the volume, a voice that doesn’t shout but remains present can be more powerful than a thousand effects.
Bianca L. Nica
Désirée Giove
I believe it is important to work on accessibility and communication, without diluting the artistic value.
Carla Coppola
Ilanah Lobel-Torres
It is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a singer—seeing how your voice grows and adapts through repertoire.
Alice Lechner
Stepan Armasar
It is very important for me to communicate to the orchestra my love for the work, the inner energy and the idea behind the score.
Alice Lechner
Sofía Esparza
I believe the most interesting characters are those who are not entirely linear. Their humanity is what connects them to the audience.
Blanca Vázquez
Ekaterine Buachidze
I believe that if motivation comes from expression rather than expectation, authenticity follows naturally.
Alice Lechner
Finding His Voice: Hadi Alibeigli on Opera, Origins, and Ambition
The more I learn, the more clearly, I understand where I come from, and the more deeply my artistic identity settles within me.
Alice Lechner
From Stage to Heart: Caterina Piva’s Opera Journey
I believe it’s essential never to lose oneself, because our uniqueness is truly what makes us interesting.
Alice Lechner

CONNECT THE WORLD
THROUGH CULTURE

“IT’S NOT JUST ANOTHER MAGAZINE…
IT COULD BE ANYTHING OR EVERYTHING I’VE EVER DONE COMING TOGETHER.”

News feed

Eleonora Buratto & Michele Pertusi 2025 Premio Illica Winners
June 2025
Opera Charm Team
Rossini in Wildbad's new season
April 2025
Opera Charm Team
Buratto Headlines ‘Madama Butterfly’ in Baden-Baden & Berlin
April 2025
Opera Charm Team

La magia di un’opera lirica universale

Un’iniziativa dell’Associazione Maddalena
NOV 3│4│5 – Palazzo dei Congressi di Lugano

Articles

Jonas Kaufmann’s Magische Töne: Vocal Magic with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
Jonas Kaufmann’s Magische Töne is a compelling journey through lyrical beauty, dramatic intensity, and intimate storytelling. From the opening notes, it becomes clear that this is an album designed not just to showcase a voice, but to create a dialogue between singer, orchestra, and listener. Kaufmann’s voice, warm and radiant yet capable of heroic power, finds its...
Carla Coppola
Sondra Radvanovsky’s Puccini Heroines: A Triumphant Celebration of Passion, Power, and Emotion 
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has long been celebrated for her dramatic intensity and vocal prowess, but in her latest recording,Puccini Heroines, she takes us on a journey through the heart of Puccini’s operatic world with an intimacy and depth that few can match. This album is not merely a showcase of technique; it is a testament...
Carla Coppola
The Voice That Shook Opera Houses: Boris Christoff
Few opera singers have left behind a voice as unforgettable as Boris Christoff. Deep, dark, and commanding, Christoff didn’t simply sing—he dominated the stage. Audiences described his performances as electrifying, with a voice so powerful it seemed to vibrate through the walls of the theater. Even today, decades after his death, many opera lovers still...
Alice Lechner
Jonas Kaufmann’s Magische Töne: Vocal Magic with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
Carla Coppola
Sondra Radvanovsky’s Puccini Heroines: A Triumphant Celebration of Passion, Power, and Emotion 
The Voice That Shook Opera Houses: Boris Christoff

icharm

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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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