Program:
- Giovanni Battista Bassani – Cantata “Sconsolata gemea”
- Charles John Stanley – Cantata II
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Motetto “Exsultate, Jubilate”
The program presents a rare exploration of Baroque vocal music, featuring two little-known cantatas by G. B. Bassani and C. J. Stanley and culminates with Mozart’s motet “Exsultate, Jubilate” in an arrangement for soprano and organ.
Admission free!
Soprano Mihaela Buhaiciuc is currently a full-time voice faculty at Transilvania University of Brasov, where, she coordinated the vocal performance area between 2013-2023. Buhaiciuc toured and performed across the U.S.A. and Europe; collaborated with Mobile Opera, Alabama; Stony Brook Opera of SBU New York, South Florida Lyric Opera Co., and Brasov Opera, Romania. In 2011 she premiered at Weill Hall - Carnegie Hall with Altaïr Ensemble the chamber opera Strigoaicaria by Swiss composer, Thierry Besançon. She was part of the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, New York where she performed numerous premieres by living composers. Her most recent performances of contemporary works include Hans Tutschku's voice unrooted, Lucia Ronchetti's Albertine, Doina Rotaru's Enter no silence (Bucharest, 2024), Laura Manolache's Plecarea, Violeta Dinescu's Cică niște cronicari, Adrian Borza's Fuioare de fum, Marios Joannou Elia's Wozu socken? (Bucharest, 2023), Xenakis's Akanthos for soprano and 8 instruments, Cãtãlin Cretu's I.X. @100, Laurentiu Beldean's Tekmerio and Stupore (Brașov, Brăila, 2022).
Her repertoire includes roles as Haendel’s Nerone, Britten’s Miles, Mrs. Hayes (Floyd’s Suzannah), Mozart’s Susanna, Despina, Zerlina; Bizet’s Micaela; Donizetti’s Norina, Seur Constance (Poulenc’s Dialogue Dialogue of Carmelites), La Princess (Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortileges), chamber music and vocal-symphonic under conductors: Timothy Long, David Lawton, Hal France, Eduardo Leandro, Paul Hostetter, Andy Anderson, Theresa Cheung and Jeffrey Reed. In 2019 Buhaiciuc performed the Hymn of Martyr Bishops at the Divine Liturgy of Pope Francis held on the Field of Liberty, in Blaj, Romania.
She was awarded the Ackerman Award by New York Foundation (2003), the Neumiller Voice Scholarship Award by the Stony Brook University, New York (2007); and the Megginson Research Award from the University of Mobile (2010), where she was a full-time voice faculty between 2007-2012. She presented works at the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK (2010); at the International Academic Forum, Osaka, Japan (2010); at the International Congress of Voice Teachers, Paris (2009) and Vienna (2022); George Enesco International Festival, New York City (2005) and Bucharest (2021). Buhaiciuc holds a Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in vocal performance - under mezzosoprano Elaine Bonazzi - from Stony Brook University, New York, where she also taught as a teaching assistant for five years.
Szabó-Siklódi László-Levente is a graduate of Gh. Dima Music Academy from Cluj-Napoca, Romania majoring in concert organ performance, with a minor in piano performance. His repertoire for organ includes works by Rheinberger, Reger, Ritter, Liszt, Messiaen, Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, Bach, and Rameau. Szabó has been a chamber music performer, working with local and international ensembles, solo-instrumentalists and singers. His teachers were: Ursula Philippi and Erich Türk. He had the privilege of working in masterclasses with mentors such as: Lorenzo Ghielmi (Academie d’Orgue de Fribourg, Switzerland), Christoph Bossert (Musikhochschule Trossingen, Germany) and Robert Levin (Harvard Music Department, USA). Szabó has transcribed for voice and organ all Telemann’s solo cantatas of the 1725-6 and 1731-32 liturgical years, a first collection being published in 2017, in joint research with Mihaela. His first published composition was Ecce Sacerdos Magnus, a motet for Male Chorus and organ, followed later by Psalm 49 for voice solo, mixt chorus and orchestra. Beside his music degree, Szabó holds degrees in Roman-Catholic theology, his interests and studies extending from liturgical music to medieval philosophy, history and languages. He is currently organ professor and collaborative pianist at the Plugor Sándor High School, a Magnet School in music and art performance in Saint George, Transylvania.
