Lucia herself was a revelation! The young Romanian soprano, Letitia Vitelaru, who studied with the great Mirella Freni at the Accademia della Scala in Milan has a wondrous upper register: she was born to sing this role and gave us a show-stopping Mad Scene in duet with the now infamous glass harmonica – which Dorset had authentically provided.
Express – Martina Bet– 21st August 2019
Born in Romania, Letitia Vitelaru studied the violin whilst still a child, but decided to change to singing and attended the Dinu Lipatti Music High School in Bucharest. After graduating, she studied with Maestro Delfo Menicucci at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, going on to the Accademia della Scala, where she continued her studies under Mirella Freni, Renato Bruson and Luciana Serra. Winning the European Community Competition for Young Opera Singers led to her debut in Il Matrimonio Segreto at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto. In the same theatre she appeared as Adina L’Elisir d’Amore and went on to appear as Adina again at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova.
In 2012 she made her debut at Teatro alla Scala, singing Norina in Don Pasquale, conducted by Enrico Mazzola and directed by Jonathan Miller. She returned to the Teatro alla Scala in 2013 to sing Giulia in Rossini´s La Scala di Seta conducted by Christoph Rousset and directed by Damiano Michieletto.
Letitia Vitelaru has performed in a number of major international venues. She has has appeared in concert in international venues including Paris, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Athens, Bucharest and Hamburg. Other concert appearances were at La Scala Milan, Opéra Grand Avignon, Teatro Giuseppe Verdi di Busseto, Shanghai EXPO, Bucharest Palace Hall and the Hermitage Theatre St. Petersburg. She was a prize-winner of the following competitions: Premio Etta Limit; Concorso Toti dal Monte; The European Contest Spoleto; The Magda Olivero International Voice Competition.
As a result of winning the Concorso Toti Dal Monte 2017 she appeared in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Comunale Mario Del Monaco di Treviso for which she was awarded the Premio Bellussi by the audience for best protagonist. She went on to repeat the role of Lucia for Teatro Comunale Claudio Abbado di Ferrara with great success. The same year he performed the title role in Anna Bollena at the Hamburger Kammeroper. Recent appearances include Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro at the Ópera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the title role of Lucia Lucia di Lammermoor for Dorset Opera Festival, she also appeared in the challenging role of Imogene Il Pirata at Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania and returned to the Ópera de Bellas Artes in Mexico to take on all the soprano roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. In 2020 she performed the role of Norina from Don Pasquale at Spira Culture Center – Sweden.
Recently she has been appearing as Violetta La Traviata in semi-staged concerts performances in Zaragoza and Madrid. She also sang the role of Giulietta in Verdi ́s Un giorno di regno at the “Teatro Filarmonico di Verona” led by Stefano Ranzani and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi.