Menu
What makes Miss Constantinescu such an attractive artist is the complexity of her musicianship and acting, her ability to approach differing styles with the same beauty, commitment and honesty.
Born in Bucharest, Roxana Constantinescu started singing at the age of 5 in the Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, her first international solo success taking place in Italy-Bologna in 1989, where she was awarded the Zecchino d’Argento prize. At the same time she continued her musical education at the George Enescu Music School and later at the George Enescu High School, specializing in percussion and piano. However, her main passion-singing, equally cultivated and trained during those years, finally took the upper hand when she began to study voice with Maria Slatinaru at the National University of Music, Bucharest. In 2003 she was awarded an Erasmus Scholarship to attend the renowned University of Music and Fine Arts in Vienna, followed by a DAAD scholarship to pursue Postgraduate Studies at the University of Music and Theater in Munich with Edith Wiens.
Miss Constantinescu is a prize winner in well-known national and international competitions such as „Mihail Jora“ and „Ionel Perlea“ in Romania, „Tito Schipa“ in Italy, „Concours de Chant Verviers“ in Belgium, „Helga und Paul Hohen“ Competition in Germany, but it was winning the renowned ARD Music Competition in Munich that started her international career.
Immediately following her Master’s Degree recitals in Munich, Roxana Constantinescu joined the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera, where she remained from 2007-2010. One of her major debuts with the company was in the role of Cherubino conducted by Seiji Ozawa on the company’s Asian Tour, followed by debuts in the roles of Zerlina, Nicklausse, Siébel, Stéphano, as well as in already familiar parts like Rosina, Lola and Fjodor, amongst others. Whilst in Vienna she had the pleasure of working with conductors such as Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy, Paolo Carignani, Adam Fischer, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Graeme Jenkins, Daniel Ettinger, Kirill Petrenko, Claude Schnitzler, Ulf Shirmer and Sebastian Weigle.
Highlights of the 2010-2011 season included the title role in La Cenerentola with the Minnesota Opera, the role debut as Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera, Stéphano/Roméo et Juliette with the Dallas Opera, Fatime/Oberon and Dorabella/Cosi fan tutte at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.
Season 2011-2012 opened with Miss Constantinescu’s much acclaimed debut at the Los Angeles Opera in the role of Despina/Cosi fan tutte, followed by a successful concert tour in China together with Helmuth Rilling and the Stuttgart International Bach Academy. Further features included her appearance at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Rosina/Il Barbiere di Siviglia, her role debut as Charlotte in Minnesota Opera’s new production of Werther, a South America concert tour conducted by Helmuth Rilling and the debut with Theater an der Wien in the new production and revival of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, as Nicklausse/La Muse.
In the actual season, the young mezzosoprano returns to the Los Angeles Opera for performances of Don Giovanni, as Zerlina and makes her debut at the New National Theatre Tokyo in the part of Rosina. She appears in recital at Musikverein-Brahms-Saal together with the Altenberg Trio, is a guest of the AIDS Gala in Bonn and participates once again at the Oregon Bach Festival, featuring Helmuth Rilling.
The artist added important collaborations in the operatic field with conductors such as James Conlon, Riccardo Frizza, Patrick Lange, Carlo Montanaro, Marco Zambelli, Rani Calderon, Christopher Franklin, Guillermo Garcia Calvo or Christoph Campestrini.
Miss Constantinescu’s involvement in the art song and oratario performance is equally active. She enjoys an ongoing relationship with Helmuth Rilling, performing the music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn worldwide. Under the baton of Maestro Rilling the romanian mezzo performed the world premiere of Sven David Sandström’s „Messiah“, presented at the Oregon Bach Festival in July 2009, followed by a CD recording. 2009 represented also her successful concert debut at Carnegie Hall and Chicago’s Symphony Hall singing Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez. The subsequent CD recording was nominated in 2011 for a Grammy Award in the section: Best Orchestral Performance.
The concert field brought memorable musical moments which the mezzosoprano shared with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Arts Center Orchestra-Ottawa, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken, the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart and collaborations with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Christoph Poppen, Gerd Albrecht, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Manfred Honeck, Gustav Kuhn, Yannick Nézet Séguin, to name but a few.
Miss Constantinescu’s passion for art song was in evidence in recitals around the world at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Goethe’s House in Weimar and cities like Bucharest, Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels and Washington.
Roxana Constantinescu has already participated in numerous recordings for Hänssler Classic, OEHMS Classics, SWR, CSO Resound, Artmode Records, Weltbild and Carus Verlag and is invited in various festivals such as Oregon Bach Festival, Toronto Music Festival, Toronto Bach Festival, Musikfest Stuttgart, International Bodensee Festival or The Carinthian Summer Music Festival.
