Romanian-born maestro Christian Badea, who has conducted hundreds of orchestras around the world, is to conduct at the Bucharest National Opera for the first time in his long career.
Conductor
The Bucharest-born opera and symphonic conductor who was born as the communists took over the country, has had a glittering international career around the world over the past four decades.
The 74-year-old trained as a classical violinist in Bucharest and Brussels and later studied conducting at the Juillard School of Music in New York.
He has directed at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, Sydney Opera and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Mozart
His vast repertoire of more than 100 operas ranges from Gluck and Mozart to Shostakovich and Barber and focuses on the great masterpieces composed by Verdi, Puccini and Wagner.
He will conduct Otello by Giuseppe Verdi in two extraordinary performances, on June 8 and 11, 2022.
His debut has drawn a line-up of some of the world’s best opera stars.
Armenian tenor Arsen Soghomonyan, who stars as Otello, has earned accoladtes for his performances of the dramatic tenor repertoire at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper München and Berliner Philharmoniker.
Covent Garden
He made his Covent Garden debut as Don José of Carme in 2017. More recently, he interpreted Otello at the Bayerische Staatsoper München.
German-Armenian soprano Hrachuhí Bassénz who is in the role of Desdemona made her debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London with Adriana Lecouvreur, followed by Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Amelia Grimaldi in Simon Boccanegra.
Her appearance in Bucharest follows a series of performances in the role of Desdemona, which she will sing next month at Covent Garden.
Baritone
Belarussian baritone Vladislav Sulimsky stars as Iago and arrives in Bucharest after a series of successful shows with the Queen of Spades at the Baden Baden Festival, with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Kirill Petrenko.
After his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper München in 2019, as Count di Luna in Il trovatore, he performed in Otello at the Wiener Staatsoper.
He is regarded as one of the most important Verdi baritones on the international stage. After Bucharest, he will make his debut at the Opéra de Paris and the Concertgebouw.
Bucharest National Opera
The cast is completed by Mihaela Ișpan (Emilia), Liviu Indricău (Cassio), Andrei Lazăr (Roderigo), Filip Panait (Lodovico) and Iustinian Zetea (Montano), together with Bucharest National Opera Orchestra and Chorus. The Italian composer who is best known for his operas wrote the his pentultimate opera in 1887, based on Shakespeare’s play Othello.
Tickets (starting from 25 RON) can be purchased online or at the box office of Bucharest National Opera or on tickets.operanb.ro.
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