MIHAELA
STANCIU
(b.
in Ramnicu Valcea – )
Life
The
coloratura soprano Mihaela Stanciu was born in Ramnicu Valcea,
a very beautiful town surrounded by hills, situated on the
river Olt, in the mid-south of Romania. Since her teens she
was very fond of music, so in 1983 she joined the National
Opera Choir in Bucharest where she remained for 11 years.
At the age of 17 she started studying canto with the great
Romanian coloratura soprano Magda Ianculescu, a glory of the
Romanian lyrical art. Mihaela drew inspiration from singers
such as the great Romanian singers Eugenia Moldoveanu, Maria
Slatinaru, Nicolae Herlea and Ludovic Spiess, to name only
a few of the most active Romanian singers of that period,
but also from her idols, Joan Sutherland, Mirella Freni and
Mariella Devia.
In
1992 she entered the Conservatory "George Enescu" where she
studied canto with another great Romanian coloratura, Silvia
Voinea. She was a laureate of the celebrated Belvedere opera
contest in Wien (1993) and, the following year, she made her
debut at National Opera of Bucharest in the role of Constanze,
one of her landmark roles.
She
graduated in 1997. Among her colleagues, the tenor Marius
Brenciu (winner of the Cardiff World Contest 2001
) and soprano Stanca Arona Bogdan (a soloist at the Wiener
Volskoper) are worthy of mention.
After
graduation, she took part in the Verdi Contest at Budapest
where she won first prize in
singing
an aria of Nannetta in Falstaff (1997). Following her success
there, she was invited to sing the role with Renato Bruson
as Falstaff at Verona.
Mihaela's
international career took flight in subsequent years. She
sang in Japan (as Frasquita from Carmen with Agnes Baltsa
and Luis Lima), and, between 2000 and 2002, copiously in Great
Britain and France (Paris, Cherbourg, Poitiers and in 30 performances
of Lucia di Lammermoor under the baton of Amaury de Closel
and stage direction of Michel Rostain)
Her
repertory widened and she sang in over 250 performances, especially
lyrical and coloratura roles of operas by Mozart, Verdi, Bizet,
Donizetti, Rossini, Humperdinck, Offenbach, Cimarosa, Strauss
and Puccini.
She
sang also in the vocal-symphonic repertory (Haydn, Mozart,
Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Berlioz, Brahms, Mahler,
Faure, Poulenc, Strauss, Tippet, Orff, Britten and Villa-Lobos)
accompanied by either the Bucharest Philharmonic or the National
Radio Orchestra.
Nannetta
(Falstaff)
|
Adina
(L'Elisir
d'amore)
|
Her
glorious career found great fulfillment at the National Opera
where she created memorable performances from Leila (Les Pecheurs
des Perles) to Rosina, from Pamina to Micaela (her latest
debut). Last year, as a great appreciation of her musical
activity, the Romanian Government conferred upon her the Cultural
Merit with the grade of Chevalier.
Her
favourite and most felt roles are those of Lucia, Gilda, Violetta,
Nannetta (Falstaff) and Adina (L'Elisir d'amore). Mihaela's
future projects include the role of Fiordiligi in Cosi fan
tutte (the opera will be restaged in January 2006) and Elvira
in I Puritani.
Voice
In
2004, after a concert at the Theatre de Chatelet, Paris, where
Mihaela Stanciu had appeared with the great tenor Vladimir
Galouzine, a French critic observed that her singing of "Regnava
nel silenzio" (Lucia di Lammermoor) had a very good improvisation
of coloratura and ornamentation, which were "inedites", and
interestingly stated that her voice reminded him of Leotina
Vaduva and Angela Gheorghiu.
Mihaela
Stanciu enchants the listener from the very beginning with
a voice of sheer beauty, richness and capacity of filling
the whole opera house. Her marvelous technique allows her
to emit beautiful pianissimi and a wonderful messa di voce.
Her acting is natural, her italian diction faultless and every
role she plays has her whole soul in it.
She
is among few singers of the Bucharest National Opera who is
equally good in the French, Italian and Mozartian repertories.
It is a great loss that at the National Opera the belcanto
repertory, especially Bellini's operas, are rarely sung and
one can only dream of the wonderful arias of Elvira or Amina
sung by Mihaela Stanciu, wishing that, one day, one will see
her in these great roles on the stage.
Mihaela
Stanciu is not only a superb synthesis of the Romanian singing
school but also a very generous artist, who, like all great
Romanian artists of the present, in spite of their economic
condition, has the God given gift of dedicating herself each
night to the GREAT MUSIC. For this reason, Mihaela Stanciu
is undoubtedly one of the greatest artists Romania has.
Audio
files
(removed)
Audio
1 RIGOLETTO
act II Caro Nome sung by Mihaela Stanciu
(19/1/06)
Audio
2 LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR act I Regnava nel silensio sung by Mihaela Stanciu
(23/1/06)
Audio
3 THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO act I
It is painful, it brings
tears to my eyes! sung by Mihaela Stanciu
(26/1/06)
Acknowledgment
Special
thanks are due to Ms Mihaela Stanciu for providing useful
information and to my friend Alex Suteu from New Zealand for
assistance in translating the Romanian article into English.
Note
More
about Mihaela Stanciu may be found in her official web site:
www.mihaelastanciu.net
(d.t.)
Comment
Mihaela
Stanciu's voice and art displayed in the three arias typify
those of a lyric coloratura soprano. However, Mihaela is quite
unique, sumptuous and capable of characterising virtuosity
(always perilous) with a timbre of particular warmth and a
fioritura full of fascinating embellishments, never executed
or ventured hastily. Her Italian pronunciation is simply superb.
The repertory is rich: Gilda and Leila, Lucia and Violetta,
Nannetta and Pamina, the Micaela of Carmen and Adina of L'Elisir
d'amore, etc.
(j.f.)
Our
Guest of Honour, tenor Salvatore Fisichella, makes a comment
which is erudite and worthy of note on the vocality of soprano
Mihaela Stanciu.
Ho
avuto modo attraverso l'Internet di ascoltare la voce di Mihaela
Stanciu e sono rimasto favorevolmente colpito.La voce è
di bel timbro e molto estesa.I suoni sono rotondi ed omogenei
nella emissione del registro medio e acuto ancor più
che nel registro grave che potrebbe trovare una sua naturale
sponteneità se appoggiato più sul fiato.La dizione
e il fraseggio nelle romanze di lingua italiana sono perfetti
e le parole sono intelligibili segno di uno studio seriamente
accurato.
Io
catalogherei la voce della Stanciu del tipo di "soprano lirico
di coloratura" poiché la
voce sfoggia un centro molto nutrito e un acuto potente e
al tempo stesso morbido nella
sua facilità intrinseca.Il mestiere non manca e sicuramente
diventerà Arte quando
assieme al bel suono il Soprano riuscirà ad aggiungere
una tavolozza di colori più
vari e smorzature più raffinate.Lo sviluppo vocale
ancora non è del tutto compiuto e sono sicuro che nel
tempo questa voce si amplierà ancora più fino
a potere abbracciare un repertorio più lirico e forse
più consono alla natura spirituale della bella Artista.
(s.f.)
|
”There
is one thing to be said for glory - you can take glory
with you, when it is your time to go”