Contributor: Maria-Cristina Necula

Maria-Cristina Necula's published work includes the books "The Voice Beneath the Quince Tree: A Memoir of Growing Up in Communist Romania", "The Don Carlos Enigma: Variations of Historical Fictions" and "Life in Opera: Truth, Tempo and Soul", two translations: "Europe à la carte" and Molière’s "The School for Wives," and the collection of poems "Evanescent." Her articles and interviews have been featured in "Classical Singer" Magazine, "Opera America," "Das Opernglas," "Studies in European Cinema," and "Opera News." As a classically trained singer she has performed in the New York City area at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Florence Gould Hall, and the Westchester Broadway Theatre, and has presented on opera at The Graduate Center, Baruch, The City College of New York, and UCLA Southland. She speaks six languages, two of which she honed at the Sorbonne University in Paris and the University of Vienna, and she holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The Graduate Center, CUNY. In 2022, Maria-Cristina was awarded a New York Press Club Award in the Critical Arts Review category for her review of Matthew Aucoin's "Eurydice" at the Metropolitan Opera, published on Woman Around Town. She was a 2022-24 Fellow of The Writers' Institute at The Graduate Center. Currently, Maria-Cristina serves as the Director of Alumni Engagement at Lehman College. https://mariacristinanecula.com/

As celebrations of the Maria Callas centennial year continue, each commemorative event becomes even more profound and impactful when it is historically significant for the iconic singer as well as for opera in general. This…

On November 3, MasterVoices opens its 2023-24 season at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater with a concert staging of Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove’s The Frogs. Inspired by the eponymous play by the famed…

On October 28, Teatro Grattacielo will revive an opera that has not been performed in New York City in almost one hundred years, Gaspare Spontini’s La Vestale. The performance, at Gerald W. Lynch Theater, is dedicated…

Kirsten C. Kunkle has been praised as the “leading Native American soprano” of our times and her career has blossomed within a vast realm of creativity and advocacy. She is also a librettist, composer, artistic…

In a program that offered the Bucharest public a glimpse into the musical soul of his native country Argentina, José Cura showcased his consummate musicianship as composer, singer, and conductor. The program alternated works composed…

There is perhaps no more fulfilling marriage between theater and opera than Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Arrigo Boito’s Otello. That Shakespeare’s masterpiece found a perfect musical home in the Italian genius composer and his librettist’s…

The appearance of Maria Callas in the world of opera was more than a phenomenon. It was the emergence of a new operatic culture. It was the birth of a new language that transcended the…

After more than four decades as a New York City-based dance company, the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) will make its debut at The Joyce Theater with two programs that feature audience favorites and rarely…