Salbek Opera Festival Gala 2026 in Arad: Students of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass share the stage with four renowned artists of the international opera scene – maestros Ruxandra Donose, Ramón Vargas, Leontina Văduva, and soprano Paula Iancic.
Thousands of spectators transformed the square in front of the Administrative Palace in Arad into an open-air opera house on Sunday evening, applauding renowned artists of the international opera scene: mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose and tenor Ramón Vargas, joined by guest soprano Leontina Văduva and the participants of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass, with special guest Paula Iancic, in a concert performed by the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Crescenzi.
The Salbek Opera Festival Gala concluded the fourth edition of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass, a unique event that brought 23 young singers from around the world to Salbek Castle in Petriș for five intensive days of study alongside masters of the international opera world: mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose, tenor Ramón Vargas and soprano Leontina Văduva.
As every year, one day before the concert in Arad, the students gave a recital on a stage set up in front of Salbek Castle, near the oak forest surrounding the estate. At the end, soprano Leontina Văduva gave a brief assessment of this edition: “This year we had the joy of working with a very young group, with less experience, but with a great deal of enthusiasm and a very strong desire to improve. There were male and female singers starting from the age of 19, and we found a very good level of vocal training both among the young people from Romania and those who came from abroad. When you work with young people who have not yet had time to develop their own style, who have not yet formed deeply rooted habits, you can see them taking shape from one day to the next. It may seem more difficult to work with the younger ones, but it is all the more satisfying when you see them develop in your hands.”
One of those who benefited from the advice of the three teachers was Romanian bass Claudio Zahan: “For me, it was an incredible experience. Musically speaking, and I say this without exaggeration, it was a life-changing experience. I worked with each of the three masters and learned a great many things from each of them, especially in terms of interpretation and technique. I am leaving Salbek with a new way of understanding vocal technique, but also the way I interpret. Studying with each of the three impressed me, changed me and prepared me to sing in front of a large audience. I would recommend this masterclass to anyone who wants to learn how to be an artist.”
“This is my second time at Salbek. I was also here last year when, at the end of the course, I knew for certain that I would return, because I had learned an enormous amount. After last year’s edition, I began exploring a new repertoire; studying with the three teachers opened my eyes to understanding myself better and to better understanding what I want to sing. And this year I received a great deal of advice on how to deepen this new repertoire. At the same time, Salbek gives you the opportunity to meet people from the same field as you, but with different backgrounds. It is very interesting how quickly friendships can develop in such a setting. It is the first masterclass, among the many I have attended, where I felt that yes, I am on the right path in this field,” said soprano Juliana Wells, one of the masterclass participants, reflecting the enthusiasm of a very young generation of artists discovering themselves and discovering the path to the stage in the heart of Banat.
“For many participants, the International Salbek Opera Masterclass has become a revelatory artistic experience,” says Oltea Șerban-Pârâu, artistic coordinator of the Salbek Opera Masterclass: “This Romanian village, Petriș, is the place where, for the past four years, 23 participants each year have learned much more than how to sing: they learn how to act, how to relate to one another on stage and, beyond that, they take part in a course about the life of an opera artist – all the tensions that arise along the way, all the capacity for adaptation, everything that is necessary to become a great artist. In front of the participants who came from several countries, as usual, there were three great artists with important international careers who, drawing on their accumulated experience, can convey much more than advice on how to sing. They teach these young artists, who are at different stages of their development – some have only just entered the conservatory, some graduated some time ago – what the life of an artist is really like.”
“This type of project is unique,” says Ana Maria Mihăescu, president of the Salbek Castle Association and initiator of the masterclasses in Petriș: “For a few days, three great voices of the world come to sing, together with several young students from different cultures around the globe, beside a forest, in the middle of a village in Arad. This year was all the more special because the restoration of the castle has progressed, the rooms have been refurbished and the artists sang among walls steeped in history, alongside art exhibitions. One of them was a Brâncuși exhibition. We wanted to show the young artists who came from six countries around the world what Romanian culture means as it truly is, documented through photographs belonging to the National Heritage Institute. Therefore, at Salbek, an unusual rural regeneration project is taking place, one that begins with the musical experiment and passes through several forms of art. We hope that next year we will be able to have at least three days of Picnic Opera Parc on the Salbek estate, more fully restored than it was this year, but with an even stronger musical presence.”
