Romanian National Opera, Cluj-Napoca Pavel as stage director. Famous artists of the early days of the institution include Constantin Pavel, the first director of the institution and the first tenor to sing the Radames role in the Cluj-Napoca Romanian Opera, the Italian conductor Egisto Tango, the composer Tiberiu Brediceanu, the baritone Dimitrie Popovici-Bayreuth. The Romanian Opera managed to establish in a very short period of time a very good and prolific artistic team. In just its first 2 years (1919–1921), it staged 99 performances, including Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida", Charles Gounod's "Faust", de Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", Nicolae Bretan's "Luceafărul", Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana", Richard
Viorica Cortez at Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, in the famed production of Robert Carsen. The performances were highly acclaimed by the press. Later on, she was to debut with Teatro del Maggio in Florence ("Cavalleria rusticana"). In 2009, Viorica Cortez starred in the creation of a new opera ("Une affaire etrangere") in Montpellier. Cortez is scheduled to return on stage in "Cavalleria Rusticana" for the 2010-2011 season of the Marseille Opera. "Carmen du siecle" - this is what the French press was headlining in the 1970s. Without any doubt, Cortez was one of the most sought-after Carmens of the 1970s and '80s.