The first online meeting of the Casti divi series takes place on Thursday - the work of legendary performers. Where did this idea come from?

It was the idea of Sandra Ecobescu, the president of the CaleaVictoriei Foundation and it is an idea she had for a long time. Basically, we started doing these courses during the first lockdown, in the spring of 2020. Somehow, we were probably waiting for the right moment for these courses dedicated to great opera singers to reach their best version for those who are interested. And then, we said that autumn, a time when by force of circumstances we spend more time indoors anyway, would be a good time to finally implement this idea.

What were the criteria according to which you chose the personalities you will present?

This is a very good question, especially since it is an issue that I will insist on at the beginning of each of the three meetings. Because, obviously, when we talk about great opera singers, we are also talking about partisanship, often fanatical, we are talking about preferences, we are certainly talking about names that cannot be missing, as we are also talking about names that by force of circumstances end up it remains somewhere, if we will, at the edge of lists of preferences. Obviously, the field of opera, like all creative artistic fields, is one of subjectivisms, but I thought of assuming all these subjectivisms, to declare them to myself, and then I structured the three meetings as follows: the first, dedicated to the great singers of opera from Callas onwards to the new Callas of the current millennium - Anna Netrebko, obviously; the second meeting, dedicated to male voices, not just tenors, although they will certainly predominate because they are, aren't they, the pamperers of the public and of managers and impresarios; following that the third meeting, in order to get very close to a field that is so dear to us all, will be dedicated exclusively to the great Romanian opera singers.

How will the workshops take place? How did you think their structure over?

There will definitely be a lot of interactivity because that's what I wanted from the beginning for all my courses. And, most importantly, we will listen and see a lot of work, because there are recordings that we will see, mostly from my personal archive, and in this way, having exactly the evidence at our disposal, of all those who will be there. In these three Thursday evenings, we will no doubt be able to refresh our impressions, exchange impressions, declare our preferences and, why not, maybe even our reservations sometimes, but the important thing is to be happy. I think that, practically, the invitation I launch through these meetings is to enjoy opera and performers thanks to whom we have come to love this genre.

Finally, please invite listeners to attend these courses.

I am waiting for all those interested, all those who love opera, all those who miss the singers on whom, as I said earlier, we practiced our passion for opera music. So, I expect them to be with me starting this evening, Thursday, November 12, for three weeks - every Thursday, from 19.00. All the details regarding the registration for this series of meetings are available on the CaleaVictoriei Foundation website, victoriei.ro, and obviously, as much as I can, I promise them and I guarantee that we will have exciting stories, exciting auditions and that we will have exchanges. as vivid as possible of ideas. I am obviously looking forward to seeing everyone!