The Salbek Opera Festival at Arad: Students of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass share the stage with four of the world’s most renowned opera singers: sopranos Anita Hartig and Leontina Văduva, mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose, and tenor Ramón Vargas.

On Sunday evening, thousands of opera lovers transformed the plaza in front of Arad’s Local Government Palace into an open-air opera auditorium, applauding four of the most renowned artists of the world opera stage: soprano Anita Hartig, mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose, and tenor Ramón Vargas, alongside guests soprano Leontina Văduva and students from the Salbek Opera Masterclass, at a concert given by the Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Crescenzi.

The Gala of the Salbek Opera Festival marked the close the third edition of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass, a unique event that brought to Salbek Castle in Petriș 23 young singers from six countries and three continents for five days of intensive study with international opera stars mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose, tenor Ramón Vargas and sopran Leontina Văduva.

The day before the concert in Arad, the students gave a recital on the stage set up in front of Salbek Castle, near the oak wood that surrounds the estate. At the end, mezzosoprano Ruxandra Donose took stock of this year’s edition: ‘This was the third edition and it seems that year after year we encounter better and better vocal talents. This year, we had an additional day of study. The courses were intensive, we worked with all guns blazing, in morning and afternoon segments. You might think that over just a few days you won’t be able to go into canto technique very deeply, but in the space of these few days we managed to range from the basics all the way to mastery. It was a very, very good edition for everybody involved and this year I even felt close friendships forming among the students.’ (Ruxandra Donose)

One of those who benefited from the advice of the three teachers was Romanian tenor Sebastian Toșa: ‘In addition to vocal technique, stage posture, and the attitude to take before and during a performance, I personally learned from Ruxandra Donose how to find confidence in myself. It was she who was the first to tell me: “You have the voice, you have the coloratura, now search for confidence, which is there inside you too, and show everybody that you like to be on stage.’ I benefited from every minute of being with the three of them and I am grateful to everybody for everything they taught me.’

‘For me, it was an experience I never thought I would ever have. I felt very welcome, all three teachers are marvellous. What I received first of all was their energy, which they lent to all of us. After which, I took from each of them what interested me, from one I learned about vocal technique, from another, how to move onstage, from the third about the confidence you have to find in yourself. Each student spent thirty minutes’ individual study every morning and evening with each of the teachers, and then we listened to each other. For me, it was my first time, I’m thinking of coming back. I made friends here with the young people who were at the other two editions,’ said soprano Ananda Dingenen, one of the students taking part in the masterclass, reflecting the enthusiasm of a younger generation discovering a place of operatic excellence at the heart of the Banat.

The International Salbek Opera Masterclass is an opera camp that is a revelation not only for students, but also for teachers, believes soprano Leontina Văduva: ‘Both the musicians from abroad and those from Romania were of an incredibly high standard this year. They are wonderful voices, interesting personalities, very young, but already quite advanced. It’s hard for us when we make the selection, but it’s a pleasure when we see how easily we’re able to shape them. I’m delighted that there are some who have come back and I have been able to observe their progress compared with past years. And the fact that after five days of intense work we have them next to us onstage, in front of thousands of people, makes it a very special moment.’

The masterclasses held in the Romanian village from the Banat region have come to hold a special place in the heart of tenor Ramón Vargas: ‘I think that this type of project is unique: for the space of a few days, you bring together three of the world’s great voices, a number of young students from different cultures around the globe, a lot of music, next to a forest at the heart of an Arad village. This year was all the more special given that a few of the rooms of the castle have been restored and we sang within walls imbued with so much history. The vocal exercises could sometimes be heard in the morning almost all the way to the oaks that surround the estate. I’m quite simply in love with this place, this landscape, the people from here, and this class!’

The students who come to the opera camp at Salbek Castle still attend conservatories or have graduated and now teach at various institutions around the world. Musicologist Mihai Cosma describes the additional benefits brought by this kind of experience, this kind of masterclass: ‘I’m here at Salbek for the third time, a place attractive for its history, natural setting and the opportunity to concentrate, wholly to integrate yourself into an atmosphere one hundred per cent dedicated to music. The keyword that defines these classes is intense. Whereas in music schools, the pupils study canto for an hour or two a week, those who come here study opera, in contrast to what they do in class, where they learn arias. There is a huge difference between being an artist and being a reproducer of sound. Here, the three maestros teach them how to carry themselves onstage, they teach them how to convey feeling, how to be the characters they perform, and how to integrate themselves into the dramatic situation they are presenting at a given moment. It’s something highly important that they don’t have an opportunity to learn elsewhere.’

At the close of the third edition of the International Salbek Opera Masterclass, Ana Maria Mihăescu, chairwoman of the Salbek Castle Association and founder of the Petriș masterclasses spoke about progress through culture, creating opportunities for the community, and the future: ‘This project, which we began three years ago, has developed organically, extremely beautifully. The three maestros, who continue to come to Salbek year after year, are clear testimony that the project has taken on a strong outline and is becoming a brand. I am extremely delighted with their devotion, and I thank them for their tirelessness in passing on their knowledge to young people eager to achieve perfection. Likewise, I am extremely delighted with the community that has been created around the project, with the fact that year after year more than three hundred people come not only from Romania, but also this year we have had guests from the United States, France and Britain, and they enjoy with tears in their eyes the recital given by the young students in the castle grounds, which leads me to say that the wager we made three years ago was a winning one.

‘As for the future, we wish to involve the local community more and more, we aim to make the Salbek Opera Masterclass a part of the Events and Activities Centre that we intend to develop in partnership with the local authorities. From 2026, on three weekends in August, we aim to invite opera companies from Romania and neighbouring countries to give concerts here. So, every August, a masterclass and three opera performances at Salbek Castle in the commune of Petriș.’