Biography
Born in 1987 in Bistrita, Romanian tenor Stefan Pop completed his studies at the School of Music (violin) and later at the Academy of Music “Gheorghe Dima” of Cluj-Napoca, where he graduated in singing in 2010.Stefan is the winner of many competitions including most recently, the Seoul International Music Competition and Operalia (here he also won the Audience Award), both in 2010.
He has performed with all the major Romanian symphony orchestras, including Bucharest, Targu Mures, Iasi, Timisoara and Oradea. He also performed the world premiere of “Colinde balada op. 46 ” by Gyorgy Kurtag in March 2009.
Stefan’s first tastes of opera were in performances of Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto (Paolino) with the Hungarian National Opera, followed by L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino) with the Romanian National Opera of Timisoara, both in the 2008/09 season. In December 2009, Stefan Pop made his international debut in the role of ‘Alfred’ in Zeffirelli’s production of La Traviata at Opera di Roma.
Highlights of past seasons include appearances at Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Hamburg Staatsoper, Greek National Opera, Teatro Carlo Felice, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Rome, Trieste, National Opera Bucharest, National Opera Timisoara and Tel Aviv Opera. In March 2011 he made his debut with the role of Elvino / “La Sonnambula” at the Wiener Staatsoper.
On the concert platform he recently appeared in three concerts in Asia and one at Royal Opera House Oman with Angela Gheorghiu and at the Viva Musica Festival in Bratislava.
The 2012/13 season saw Stefan appear at various opera houses such as Zurich, Genoa, Hamburg, Mikhailovsky Theatre St Petersburg, and make his debut at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, as well as singing various gala concerts with Angela Gheorghiu.