The International Festival - Musical Timișoara, now in its 47th year, will run from the 5^th of May to the 2^nd of June. Considered the most important event of its kind for Timisoara folks, the festival is organised by the Timișoara Opera and the city's "Banatul" Philharmonic. Cristian Rudic, the manager of the Romanian National Opera, gives us more details about the opera section of the festival.

Mr. Cristian Rudic, two of the most important institutions in Timișoara have joined forces for 47 years to organize the International Festival Musical Timișoara, which will take place this year from the 5^th of May to the 2^nd of June. What titles does the opera lyrical section of the festival include?

We have tried to cover all the musical genres that are present on the opera stage. We will, of course, start with an event in collaboration with our sister institution. A few decades ago, Ion Românu and Maestro Nicolae Boboc had the idea to create a festival in this city where the two musical lungs of the city could breathe at the same time; I mean the Opera and the Banat Philharmonic. In the meantime, these two have parted for various reasons, and now, once again, we have managed to unite them and at least at the beginning, members of the orchestra and the choir will appear on stage and help each other in the opening event which will be "Carmina Burana".

After that, in terms of opera, it starts with the premiere of Giselle by Adolphe Adam on May 7th, at 18.00, choreographed by Ovidiu MateiIancu, who will also dance in the first performance. Adriana Urmuzescu provided the set and costumes.

After that, we'll give Little Dorothy, but this time in the evening, at 7pm, for children, grandparents and parents.

Rigolettofollows with important guests. On the 12^th of May at 7pm, Savoy Ball, our freshest premiere and biggest success, directed and choreographed by Răzvan Mazilu. Turandot is next on 21^st of May, then again Little Dorothy on the 26^th of May and the second performance of Giselle in a different cast. And, from our point of view, it will end with Nabucco on 31^st of May.

I would like to ask you to list some of the most important names that will perform on the stage of the Opera House of Timișoara.

So far, as a guest, "Calaf" will be Teodor Ilincăi in Turandot. In Rigoletto, the main character will be played by Matic Dragutin, who is a very immortal Rigoletto of today's Europe. We are proud to have the house debut in Nabucco, which is Mr. George Proca. All this under the auspices of an international Festival.

We have worked hard in recent years to strengthen the ensemble of soloists and this time we are proud that Nabucco is almost entirely covered by the house soloists.

Considering that this year Timișoara is the European Capital of Culture, and the visibility is stronger, how do you see the importance of this festival in this context?

After this pandemic scourge, we expected people to crowd and queue to the venue and, at the end of the pandemic, this did not happen as we had dreamed. Here we are, since October last year the hall has been filling up and since October until now we are full houses. I hear more and more foreign languages being spoken in the opera corridor and I can say that cultural tourists have been there since before the official start of the Cultural Capital. That bodes well! Let's hope it stays that way and doesn't end when the Cultural Capital ends. I say the best advertisement for anything is word of mouth. It has to be about an event you enjoyed. Our wish is that in the next period there will be this cultural tourism manifested by the fact that you come to Timisoara to see a performance, why not an opera.