Cristina Pasaroiu
Cristina Pasaroiu (born 17 September 1987) is a Romanian operatic soprano who has performed leading roles at major European opera houses, with a focus on French repertoire such as Bizet's Micaëla, Massenet's Manon and Gounod's Juliette. Career. Born Cristina-Antoaneta Păsăroiu in Bucharest, she began voice training at age twelve. She continued her studies at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She performed in concert in the Rosenblatt Recitals in London, with the ensemble "Archi della Scala" in Milan, at the Teatro Reggio in Parma , and the festival "Klangvokal Dortmund". She made her debut at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna as Magda in Puccini's "La rondine". She appeared as Mimi in his "La Bohème" and as Micaëla in Bizet's "Carmen", conducted by Michele Mariotti, at age 21. Among her roles are also Musetta in "La Bohème", Desdemona in Verdi's "Otello", Fiordiligi in Mozart's "Così fan tutte", Sylva in Emmerich Kálmán's "Die Csárdásfürstin" and the title role of Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur". She is focused on French repertoire, such as Léïla in Bizet's "Les pêcheurs de perles", Antonia in Offenbach 's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann", the title role of Massenet's "Manon", Marguerite in Gounod's "Faust" and Juliette in his "Roméo et Juliette". She appeared in the title role of Fromental Halévy's "La Juive" alongside Neil Shicoff, conducted by Frédéric Chaslin, at the Opéra de Nice. She also performed at the Frankfurt Opera, the Theater St. Gallen, the "Liceu" in Barcelona, at the "Vlaamse Oper" in Antwerp and Ghent, and at the Caracalla Festival of the Rome Opera. In 2016, she appeared as Valentine in Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots", as Micaëla in her debut at the Vienna State Opera , and as Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. She appeared there as Manon in 2017, singing and acting although she had broken her foot in a rehearsal and had to wear boots even in bed with her lover. In 2018 she made her role debut as Liù in Turandot at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, returned to the role of Manon at the Korea National Opera in Seoul and to the Bregenz Festival as Micaela in Carmen. In the 2018/2019 season she made her role debut as the four heroines of Les Contes d'Hoffmann in the  premiere of a Laurent Pelly staging at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, causing the Financial Times to proclaim her the "star of the evening". Other engagements in 2018/2019 include her role debut as Alcina (George Frideric Handel) and Gilda in a new staging of Rigoletto at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Mimì in La bohème at the Royal Opera House of Copenhagen and Micaela in Carmen at the Bavarian State Opera of Munich. Awards. Păsăroiu is a prize winner of several competitions, including the Jaume Aragall competition in Barcelona and in 2011 fourth prize in the international competition Neue Stimmen.