The National Opera of Cluj-Napoca launched the 2025-2026 season with the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.

On Saturday, the 4^th of October, the Romanian National Opera of Cluj-Napoca inaugurated the 2025-2026 season with the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, a title set for the first time on the stage of this institution. The following evening, the public had the opportunity to view a second performance of Simon Boccanegra, with a different cast in the leading roles.

At the invitation of the institution's general director, I attended the first performance which starred baritone Florin Estefan in title role, the Georgian bass Sulkhan Jaiani as Fiesco, soprano Paula Iancic as Maria Boccanegra, tenor Teodor Ilincăi as Gabriele Adorno, baritone Mihai Damian as Paolo, Zoltan Molnar bass as Pietro, tenor Iosia Balteș as the Captain and soprano Ștefania Balz as a maid. The chorus and orchestra of the institution were guided by its artistic director, conductor David Crescenzi.

The stage direction stands out through the renowned Italian bass Roberto Scandiuzzi's signature, who made his debut in this new position. The scenography was designed by Anca Pintilie, video design by Luca Attili, and lighting design by Lorenzo Caproli.

More details about this performance will be found in a future article, but now, I can briefly say that I regarded a classically staged performance, faithful to its historical setting and executed with great taste, showing respect for the score and its composers.

A couple both on and off stage, Paula Iancic and Teodor Ilincăi played characters that are the nucleus of this drama.

Gabriele Adorno is a role you have long wished to perform, and now the opportunity has finally come. How was it for you to bring this character to life?

Teodor Ilincăi: First of all, it was a joy for me to return to the Cluj Opera stage and greater joy to perform this role alongside my wife, soprano Paula Iancic who played Amelia.

What I would say about this role is that it was more difficult to play than other roles because it has a lirico spinto characteristic, but it also has a good number of dramatic accents. So, as it's often the case with Verdi, one needs 'several tenors in one' to do justice to the part, at least honourably. I think I accomplished this role because I have always been fond of it, from the first time I heard the performance, while I was at the National Opera of Bucharest, where I performed the captain, which I had the opportunity to sing alongside great baritones, like Iordache Basalic, who was employed there, then Alexandru Agache and Eduard Tumagian. And as those of you who attended the performance well noticed, the opera was received with enormous enthusiasm. It is a work rarely performed in Romania, but I hope for it to be staged more frequently since it's absolutely spectacular.

How is it for you to be together on stage, especially now, when you were both making your debuts in these roles?

Teodor Ilincăi: Yes, it's hard for us to gauge an opinion on what is like to share the stage, but according to the public's reaction, we are extremely believable. We love each other very much and this emotion can be noticed on stage, and this is the feedback we received from the audience. Of course, it is not possible for us to always perform together, but when it happens, it is a great joy.

Paula Iancic, two major debuts in less than six months - Aida in May, and now Maria Boccanegra/Amelia Grimaldi again in Cluj. How has this new role been for you?

Paula Iancic:It has been a great delight for me to return to Cluj in such a short time. I am very grateful for the Opera's management. Both roles came with different challenges. Aida was exceedingly onerous, while Maria Boccanegra or Amelia as she is also known, proved to be rich. Verdi was very generous with Amelia's score. It is a lyrical role with delicate, almost bel canto passages, yet also charged with dramatic power reminiscent of Aida. It is a beautiful role that truly moved me, helped me grow artistically and gave me great joy to discover, as I was not familiar with the performance before this debut.

And I'll repeat the question I previously asked Tudor. How is it like to share the stage, especially when both of you are debuting in your respective roles?

Paula Iancic:You can imagine that the emotions are doubled up, even though being together on stage gives us strength and mutual support, it is restorative, to say so. In a way, this helps us convey more warmth and emotion to the audience than when we are individually on stage.

On the occasion of these two performances took place the launch of Volume 2 from the series Viva l'Opera, written by Doctor Marius Rimbașiu, a physician, but also a passionate opera music lover. In the first volume, the author included remembrances of the performances he attended for over seven decades in numerous opera houses both in Romania and abroad, along with portraits of distinguished opera artists and selections from critical reviews. The second volume brings to forefront the opera audience and the directors who choose to stage in the regietheater style.

Mr. Rimbașiu, the second volume is entitled 'The Passionates and the Gravediggers of Opera'. What will we discover in the pages of this volume and what inspired this title?

Marius Rimbașiu: My desire to make known the opinions of a spectator to the public focused this time on, as the subtitle says, two issues. 'The passionates', the part of the audience beautifully named by the French les lyricomanes, or by Pavarotti 'His Majesty, the Public'. These are part of first two chapters of this volume. These are the opera lovers who see and live opera with all their soul. For this group, opera is an art about love, about life: vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore. I've related my encounters with many of these lyricomanes I've met over the 70 years since I have been roaming the opera halls.

In the second part, I address the issue the critics don't have the courage to articulate understandably and consistently. I make reference to those creators, I emphasise those, not all, who are part of the regietheathre, who squash the score and libretto, striving by any means to make themselves known through provocation and scandal. In their ignorance, whether they don't love or understand opera, forget that the opera is a sung theatre. The musical discourse must be central, and the director's role is to support that discourse. In such 'interpretations' guided by these 'directors', one hears one thing sung on stage while witnessing something entirely different. Ideas that have nothing to do with the opera performance.

I cannot stress this enough: I am not against what would be called modern directing, and in shaping these views I relied significantly on what the great Franco Corelli said, that the opera is far too beautiful to fade away. And hence my paradigm and motto: Viva l'Opera!

Published by Casa Cărții de Știință in Cluj-Napoca, Viva l'Opera, Vol II is available for purchase on the publisher's website.