Opera Brasov - Opera Brasov - History

Brasov Opera House began its activity in 1953, under the name of Musical Theatre Brasov. During a half century of activity the institution brought an important contribution to the development of  Brasov (old Kronstadt) cultural life, city situated at 20 km South of Dracula' s Castle, in central part of Transylvania, surrounded by mountains.
During the time, great personalities played on the stage of  the Opera:
SOLOISTS: Virginia Zeani, Nicolae Herlea, Elena Cernei, Ludovic Spiess, David Ohanesian, Eugenia Moldoveanu, Ion Dacian, Octav Enigarescu, Pompei Harasteanu, Cleopatra Melidoneanu, Doriun Teodorescu and also  nowadays personalities such as: Nelly Miricioiu, Felicia fillip, Liliana Ciobanu Vaduva, Marius Brenciu, Marian Pop, Maria Diaconu, Liliana Faraon etc.
CONDUCTORS: Jean Bobescu, Petre Sbarcea, Cornel Trailescu, Ilarion Ionescu Galati, Ladislau Roth (Mexico), Corneliu Calistru, Victor Dumanescu, Silviu Pantaru, Jean Marie Juan (France), Alfonso Saura (Spain) etc.
DIRECTORS: Jean Ranzescu, Hero Lupescu, George Zaharescu, Carmen Dobrescu, Cristian Mihailescu...
SCENOGRAPHERS: Nicolae Holbea, George Codrea, Viorica Petrovici...
CHOREOGRAPHERS: Oleg Danovski, Francisc Valkay, Edina Papo...
On the scene of Brasov Opera were put on scene more than 100 of opera titles, operettas, musicals and ballets pointing out the richness and diversity of the repertory.  Also, Brasov Opera participated at many national and international festivals bringing the critics' appreciation and glory. Here are some of the most important artistic presence: 
In 1998 - participation at "George Enescu"  International Festival, Bucharest
In 1993 -  participation at "The Opera Festival" in Montecatini (Italia)
Starting with 1994 - there took place annual tours of great success, organized in collaboration with Artexim Bucharest, in Germany, Holland, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Belgium. For the mentioned tours there had been signed contracts till 2008.
In 2000 - participation at  "Mozarteum" Festival in Salzbourg, with the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" by W.A.Mozart.
In 2001 the Brasov Opera opened "George Enescu" Festival with a concert. 
In 2002 and 2003 - participated at various festivals and concerts in Spain (Alicante, Murcia, Benidorm etc).
In 2003 in Brasov was organized the first edition of The International Festival of Opera, Operetta and Ballet that gathered great artists from Romania and Europe. Since then , the manifestation takes place annually bringing together artists from  3 continents.
In 2004 - participation at Mediteraneeano Festival , at Trivoli, Rome. The tour in Sicilia with "The Barber Of Seville", "La Traviata" and "Tosca".
During the period September 18 - October 9 there is the second edition of The International Festival of Opera, Operetta and Ballet. This edition had the great pleasure of having the participation of the extraordinary baritone Alberto Rinaldi, in the spectacle "Falstaff" and had also the presence of famous soloists from South  Korea, France, Austria, Italy and Republic of Moldova.
Both the growth of the members and spectacles and the recognition of the Institution on the first level in Romania, are established by the presence at the management of the institution of a great artistic personality, the director Cristian Mihailescu in 2000. Under his management, the institution from Brasov received the title of Opera on June 2001.
In 2005 the Opera Brasov realized two complex premieres which few specialized institutions do, because of the difficulties of its score: the operas "The Tales of Hoffmann" by J. Offenbach and "The Pearl Fisher" by G. Bizet. In the same year, the Opera made a prestigious tour in European countries with a rich cultural tradition (Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland) presenting the two premiers. This tour confirmed once again the professional value of the artists from Brasov Opera. The applauses and ovations received at open scene in the European theatres and the excellent chronicles written in the publications support the ideas mentioned above.  The rehabilitation works of the building, finished in the autumn of 2005, gave a new image to the Opera Brasov, approaching  its shine to the value of its spectacles.
In 2006, the year in which was celebrated in the whole word the genius of music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,  Brasov Opera put in scene two of the most significant creations of the composer "Don Giovanni" and "The Marriage of Figaro". In "Don Giovanni", under the coordination of Dr. Cristian Mihailescu, the classic regizoral montage was combined with the modern technology, and  so for the first time in an opera spectacle in Romania was put on scene multimedia images took from the Institute of NASA. With the both titles, Brasov Opera made a long tour exactly in Mozart's country, Austria, but also in another countries having a rich cultural tradition: Germany, France (Strasburg), Switzerland, Luxembourg. The Opera had a great success in Spain where it presented "The Barber of Seville" by G. Rossini.
Both kids and adults had the opportunity to participate at the third premiere in 2005-2006 theatrical season - "Thumbelina"  - having as protagonists two big personalities: Mozart, on whose music is played the spectacle and Hans Christian Andersen, the author of the fascinating story. The choreographer Nermina Damian was the one who imagined the magic atmosphere of the ballet spectacle. Also, she is the one who signs the stage management.
In the autumn of 2006 started the third edition of The International Festival of Opera, Operetta and Ballet that gathered both Romanian artists and French, Chinese, Russian artists. The Great Christmas Gala in 2006 was a challenge and a success for the artists of the Opera and for more than the 2000 spectators having been filled the Sports Hall in Brasov.
The theatrical season 2006-2007 of the Brasov Opera brought another two big premiers, both having  Cristian Mihailescu as director: "Lucia di Lammermoor" by G.Donizetti and "Norma" by V. Bellini, opera that wasn't played in Romania for more than 30 years.
On March 2007, the artists of the Brasov Opera took place at a prestigious opera festival in Spain, in Altea. The artists had five spectacles with "Don Pasquale" by Gaetano Donizetti" and "La Boheme" by Giacomo Puccini, but also have participated at the great gala of the event, dedicated to the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.
On April 2007 the artists of the Brasov Opera had a brilliant success with another two titles from the Italian bel-canto "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Norma" on the prestigious stages from Germany, Austria and Holland.
On October 1-14, 2007 the Opera Brasov organized the second International Opera Masterclass with "The Tales of Hoffmann" by J. Offenbach; teachers: dr. Cristian Mihailescu, the General Director of the Opera Brasov and Alain Nonat - Artistic Diretor of Lyrichoregra 20 Theatre - Canada; cursists from : England, Spain, France, Canada, Israel, and Saint Lucia (Caribbean Islands). On October 16, 2007 participates at the spectacle "The Tales of Hoffmann"  by J. Offenbach at the IX-th edition of  "Elena Teodorini" Festival at the Lyric Theatre in Craiova.
The V-th edition of the  International Festival of Opera, Operetta and Ballet takes place in October 21-26.
November 2007, having the participation: Vienna Opera Company, National Theatre of Operetta "Ion Dacian" Bucharest, Bucharest "Ion Creanga" Theatre, Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera and first singers invited from Italy, South Korea, Germany. In this Festival,  Brasov Opera presents the premiere "The Merry Widow" having as stage manager dr. Cristian Mihailescu; conductor Dorel Munteanu, the scenographer Adrian Cristea.
An absolute premiere will be put in scene at Brasov Opera, "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" (by M. Ortega) a Spain-Romania (Brasov Opera) co-production, conductor Miguel Ortega, stage manager Roman Calleja and the artist of Brasov Opera with two plays on December 13-15, 2007.
In the National Day of Romania, December 1-th, 2007, the orchestra of Brasov Opera accompanies the soprano Felicia Filip in an extraordinary concert on the stage of Malibran Theatre, Italy.
On December 20, 2007, takes place The Great Christmas Concert, an event that became traditional for Brasov, dr. Cristian Mihailescu being the stage manager (more than 2000 spectators), conductor Traian Ichim and in December 27, 2007 - Concert with the room's orchestra of Brasov Opera and Felicia Filip at The Catholic Church Brasov.
Year 2008 brings besides the known repertoire and traditional projects another absolute premiere: "The Lady with Camellia" a ballet spectacle that has as choreographer and stage manager Cristina Uta and the first ballerina from the Salzburg Ballet which has in the same time the title role.  It is the first year when Brasov Opera presents into the International Festival of Opera, Operetta and Ballet two premiers. At the ending of the Festival, on November 22-23,  "The Daughter of the Regiment" , the comedy of Donizetti , is the one who attracted such a numerous public that the manager of the institution decided to repeat the spectacle the next day.
We end 2008 with an extraordinary spectacle, "La Boheme", by G. Puccini on December 13 and the Christmas Concert of the Opera on December 21. In the same time we are already thinking at the projects that will be prepared in 2009 and among them  we can mention: "Cavalleria Rusticana" by R.Leoncavallo, "Clowns" by P.Mascagni and "Die Fledermaus" (The Bet) by J.Strauss.