On Saturday, June 26^th, 2010, a retrospective took place at Vienna State Opera House dedicated to  Director Ioan Holender, born in Timişoara in 1935, a Director whose term ends this summer after nineteen years of success.

Many of Ioan Holender’s collaborators in memorable productions staged at Staatsoper were present at the performance, among them Placido Domingo, Thomas Quastoff, Nathalie Dessay, Simone Young, Violeta Urmana and many others. Prestigious names who have enriched the Opera stage and have been greeted by warm applause all these years.

Some of the artists who were present at this performance, which lasted more than five hours, were at the beginning of their career when they met Ioan Holender, others were already established artists. I was glad to see among the performers, Simina Ivan, Teodora Gheorghiu, Roxana Constantinescu, Aura Twarowska, Gergely Németi and Ileana Tonca, who gave up their payment in participating to this gala.

The whole personnel of the Opera was present at the goodbye gala – the Chorus, the Orchestra, the technical staff, conductor Franz Welser-Möst –, among the guests were also renowned conductors, of whom I will mention only a few names, the list being too long: Zubin Mehta, Betrand de Billy, Fabio Luisi, Antonio Pappano.

The performance could have been seen live by the audience and passers-by gathered in front of the Vienna Opera, as it was broadcasted on screens installed outside the theatre and recorded by ORF television. Deutsche Grammophon Record Label will produce a DVD, and the earnings will be donated to a humanitarian organization, Concordia, for building a social care centre intended for orphans and senior citizens in Republic of Moldova.