The Bucharest National Opera opened the 100th season on Friday, October 1^st, 2021. The audience was able to watch the opera "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini, a show directed andstaged by Mario De Carlo. The head liner of the cast was Sir Bryn Terfel, one of the world's leading soloists, invited to two performances of this title.

The Bucharest National Opera opened on Friday evening the season in which it will celebrate 100 years since its first show, an event held on December 8^th, 1921. The show chosen for the opening was "Tosca", an opera by Giacomo Puccini, in whose distribution Sir was invited Bryn Terfel, the exceptional Welsh bass-baritone that the Bucharest public could watch in a recital on the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, during the 2017 and 2019 editions of the "George Enescu" International Festival. Then, we had frothy evenings, in which we enjoyed and delighted with the music performed wonderfully by the jovial musician. Now, we had another side of the famous Bryn Terfel who offered a demonstration of dramatic mastery. From the first step taken on the stage of the Opera, to the applause of the audience, he convinced us that he is really Scarpia, the corrupt, contemptuous, cynical, vulgar and sadistic policeman, choosing not to give him attributes that highlight the noble status that the character had. A perfect artist, Bryn Terfel used everything in building the role - mimicry, gestures, a rich vocal color palette, a perfect correlation between words and musical text, utterances that we rarely have the opportunity to hear. In his game he even used his stature, Terfel having a height of 1.93 m, so much higher than that of his stage partners. His voice does not have an extraordinary volume, nor does the acoustics of the hall help the singers, and we know that Puccini's orchestration can cover the voices of the soloists if the pit-stage relationship is not permanently balanced. But Bryn Terfel did not make the mistake that many artists make in such situations; not even once did he try to compete with the orchestra, preferring to let the moments in very nuances pass like a wave after which he stood out again. So, a Scarpia like I haven't heard or seen in a while. Bryn Terfel performed with the soloists of the Bucharest Opera, a homogeneous cast, with Iulia Isaev in the title role, which captivated us with the beauty of his voice, Daniel Magdal in Cavaradossi delighted us with the safety and brilliance of his high notes, with Marius Boloș, Ion Dimieru, Valentin Racoveanu, Dan Indricău, Filip Panait and Mădălina Barbu. The ensembles of the institution took part in the competition - the orchestra, the choir and the children's choir, the musical direction belonging to the conductor Tiberiu Soare. As Scarpia dies at the end of the second act, BrynTerfel had time to free himself from the mask of the embodied character, so at the applause that ended the show I saw Bryn Terfel himself, the pleasant and smiling man. In conclusion, the Bucharest National Opera opened the new season with a very good show, in the presence of a large audience, still taking into account the restrictions in force.

Because the second act focuses on Scarpia, and Bryn Terfel created a sensation with his performance, I warmly recorded the impression of the theater historian Lucian Sinigaglia:

I am very excited about what I heard in this second act. Iulia Isaev and Sir Bryn Terfel are two great performers of the roles of Tosca and Scarpia, respectively, and I am glad that I listened to them, because - I know either from the history of the institution or I saw them live - it seems to me that they are the successors of a great tradition in the interpretation of these extremely difficult roles, respectively Iulia Isaev comes after Dora Massini and Maria Voloșescu, Virginia Zeani, Raina Kabaivanska, Grace Bumbry, and Sir Bryn Terfel comes after Aldo Protti, Tito Gobbi, David Ohanesian, Nicolae Herlea. All in all, I am glad that the season with "Tosca" has reopened, one of my favorite works and I am extremely happy that I listened to Iulia Isaev in this second act, who I know played roles at Metropolitan and the great , the only artist Sir Bryn Terfel.

At the end of the show, the director Anda Tabacaru confessed to us:

I'm very happy to be able to watch this show. It was really a celebration. This is the third time I've applauded Bryn Terfel live. What can I say, it is the prototype of the ideal opera actor for the 21st century, that is, he has an extraordinary vocal expressiveness and I had the feeling that I see Orson Wells in a play, playing a Shakespeare. The show was really, in my opinion, a team show. They all tried to surround him with talent, to give Bryn Terfel and the audience a lot of authenticity in creating the characters. Vocal, everyone was in shape and I also congratulate Iulia Isaev and Daniel Magdal, who knew how to surround Bryn Terfel with everything they had the best.