Friday, June 5, 2026, 19:00 p.m, in the Romanian National Opera Hall in Timișoara, the public is invited to Opera and Operetta Gala, a prestigious event organized by the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara, in collaboration with Faculty of Music and Theater within West University of Timisoara (UVT).
The show brings together on the same stage young soloists from the Faculty of Music and Theatre and the Romanian National Opera Orchestra from Timișoara, in a program dedicated to the great masterpieces of the universal lyrical repertoire. The event offers the audience the opportunity to discover the talent of a new generation of performers, alongside the experience of one of the most important musical institutions in Romania.
Szabolcs Hermann will be the conductor, and Ovidiu Rusu and Corina Murgu will be the concertmasters. The soloists of the evening are the singing students: Rebeca Pricopi, Claudiu Șola, Anca Domuța, Ștefan Taisia Ștefania, Ioan Toma, Alexandru Ticula, Casiana Cioată, Emanuel Nicoară, Violeta Tiponuț, Ada Mârza, Nagy Noémi, Camelia Tuță, Darius Gruiță and Samira Bulz.
Assoc. Univ. Dr. Catalina Ancuța, dean, Faculty of Music and Theatre – UVT:
"The Opera and Operetta Gala represents one of the most important artistic moments of this academic year for the Faculty of Music and Theatre. Through this event we celebrate interpretative excellence, passion for lyrical art and the results of an exemplary institutional collaboration with the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara.
For our students and graduates, participating in such a large-scale show represents a valuable opportunity for professional and artistic affirmation. At the same time, the Timisoara audience will have the opportunity to enjoy a program made up of famous pages of the opera and operetta repertoire, performed by young artists at the beginning of a promising career.
We sincerely thank the management and staff of the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara for their openness and support in carrying out this project, which once again confirms the essential role of collaboration between the academic environment and the city's major cultural institutions."
Mihaela Marcu, interim manager of the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara:
"The Opera and Operetta Gala represents a landmark moment in our mission to support and train new generations of lyrical artists.. The collaboration with the Faculty of Music and Theatre of the West University of Timișoara is one of the directions through which the Opera affirms its educational and cultural role in the community..
We are honored to offer young performers the professional framework of the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara, a space where talent, discipline and creativity can be cultivated at the highest level. The Timișoara audience will discover, in this gala, the energy and potential of a generation that deserves all our trust and support.
We thank the Faculty of Music and Theatre – UVT for the constant partnership and for the dedication with which it prepares future artists of the lyrical scenes. Together, we contribute to the consolidation of the cultural life of the city and to the affirmation of Timișoara as a prestigious artistic center.”
The artistic program includes famous arias, duets and ensembles from the works of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Jacques Offenbach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Amilcare Ponchielli, Francesco Cilea, Filaret Barbu and Ruperto Chapí. Among the evening's highlights are pages from the works of Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Don Carlo, The Troubadour, La Gioconda, The elixir of love, Les Contes d'Hoffmann and Romanian operetta Ana Lugojana.
The show lasts approximately 90 minutes. Seats in the hall can be reserved free of charge (subject to availability) until June 4, 2026, 16:00 PM, using the following link – https://forms.gle/b8e7spdEwXicg2pF6.
Confirmation of seats will be sent via email on June 4th, after 16:00 PM, and on the morning of June 5th.
Through this gala, the Faculty of Music and Theatre of the West University of Timișoara and the Romanian National Opera of Timișoara reaffirm their joint commitment to supporting artistic performance, promoting young talents and developing the cultural life of Timișoara.
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The evening program includes the following reference works:
WA Mozart – Overture – The Marriage of Figaro
Nagy Noémi
- Knock, knock, oh beautiful Masetto from the work Don Giovanni by WA Mozart
Emanuel Nicoara
- She was kidnapped from me. from the work Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
Stefan Taisia Stefania
- Mercè, dear friends from the work The Sicilian Vespers by Giuseppe Verdi
Samira Bulz – Alexandru Ticula
– Ana–Sandu Duet No. 11 from the operetta Ana Lugojana by Filaret Barbu
Casiana Cioata
- Divinities of Styx from the work Alceste by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Violeta Tiponuț
- Les oiseaux dans la charmille from the work Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach
Camelia Tuță
- Della crudele Isotta from the work The elixir of love by Gaetano Donizetti
John Thomas
- Yes, she's going to die! from the work La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli
Rebecca Pricopi
- The daughters of Zebedee – Ruperto Chapí
Anca Domuta
- Song of the Veil from the work Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi
Claudiu's shoe
- Di due figli vivea padre beato from the work The Troubadour by Giuseppe Verdi
Ada Marza
- Bitter pleasure from the work Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea
Alexander Ticula
- For me it's arrived... I will die. from the work Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi
Violeta Tiponuț – Darius Gruita
– The Rigoletto–Gilda duet from the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
Violeta Tiponuț, Emanuel Nicoară, Ada Mârza, Darius Gruita
– The Quartet Beautiful daughter of love from the work Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi
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Assist. university Dr. Hermann Szabolcs – conductor
Hermann Szabolcs is a conductor, composer and organist, one of the most representative young musicians of the Hungarian and Romanian musical life. His artistic career is closely linked to Timișoara: he began collaborating with the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara in 2023, and following the success of the productions they produced together, in October 2024 he was appointed permanent conductor of the institution, thus becoming one of the youngest leading musicians of the Romanian opera world.
His role in Timișoara is defining not only in the pit and in the rehearsal rooms, but also in the university environment. Since 2022, he has been a teacher at the Faculty of Music of the West University of Timișoara, where he is the head of the opera class. At the head of this class, he has created numerous student productions, conducting performances such as opera and operetta galas, the operettas Bal la Savoy and Floarea din Hawaii by Paul Ábrahám, the children's opera Red Riding Hood by Nicolae Brânzeu, as well as the university production of the musical Sunetul muzicii.
Between 2020 and 2024 he was the permanent conductor of the National Theatre in Szeged, and since 2019 he has been a permanent guest of the State Philharmonic of Arad. Between 2016–2020 he worked as the conductor of the Operetta Theatre in Budapest, and between 2015 and 2017 he was the conductor of the "Dinu Lipatti" Philharmonic in Satu Mare. His experience was complemented by the pedagogical activity carried out at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest (2017–2018), where he taught as a university assistant.
As a conductor, he has collaborated with prestigious ensembles, such as the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Concerto Budapest, the Kodály Philharmonic of Debrecen, the Royal Camerata Bucharest, as well as numerous philharmonics in Romania, including those in Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Arad, Sibiu, Pitești, Satu Mare and Târgu Mureș. He has conducted stage productions in important theaters in Hungary and Transylvania, including the Csokonai Theater in Debrețin, the Szigligeti Theater in Oradea, the National Theater in Szeged and the Operetta Theater in Budapest. Throughout his career, he has worked alongside world-renowned personalities, such as Riccardo Muti, Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro and Helmuth Rilling.
He studied music at the Academy of Music in Cluj-Napoca, the "Liszt Ferenc" University of Music in Budapest, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, specializing in orchestra conducting. Since 2022, he has been a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Music and Theater - West University of Timișoara.
As a composer, he has written numerous sacred and secular music. His publications include the organ volume Téged Isten dicsérünk – Te Deum laudamus (2017), the Mass of Saint Stephen (Szent István király mise) and the Songs of Saint Stephen (Szent István király énekek) (2019), as well as the work for young people The Multi-Voice of the Human Voice or the Story of the Shepherd of Truth (A sokoldalú emberi hang avagy Az igazmondó juhász története) (2020).
As an organist, he has given concerts in numerous towns in Transylvania and Partium, and his organ presentations have been in the selection of the "Lázár Ervin" Program in Hungary for three years.
His activity and achievements have been rewarded with numerous distinctions and scholarships, including the Republic Scholarship, the "PrimArt" Award, the Creative Scholarship, the "Erste for the Best" scholarship, as well as Erasmus scholarships and ministerial scholarships.
