IS CRINA MATEI PRIMARILY A SINGER OR AN ACTRESS?

I am an actress before everything else. I made this definitive choice at a fairly young age, when I had to focus on a profession. With a short three-year activity in education and with a combined relapse between the art of show setting and educational management. Acting means availability and versatility. My singing voice has these attributes too. This happens now, after having studied with professors, with good knowledge of the speaking technique and of the art of singing. Alexandru Repan, my class professor, Mitica Popescu, Nicolae Gafton, Ozana Barabancea and the wonderful person who
is the soprano Mihaela Stan-ciu, leading singer of the National Opera in Bucharest were and still are my teachers in controlling and guiding the “beast”, that is my voice. I am a character full of contrasts and I let that show in everything I do.

HOW DOES THE “BEAST”, AS YOU ARTISTICALLY CALLED YOUR VOICE, HELP YOU?

The voice serves my personality and vice versa. Whether it is about theater, music or television and, sometimes, not that often, I help my friends who request my presence on fashion presentations.

IN WHAT OTHER LIVES OR COSTUMES CAN A PASSIONATE FAN OF OPERETTA THEATER OR OF MUSICHALL MEET YOU?

For instance, in the show “Broadway-Bucuresti”; or in “Cabaret”; or, why not, the show “A Buffoon in Venice”. All played at the National Operetta Theater. But also in a private project signed by Beatrice Rancea: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare. There I play Hermina. I miss “fiatra”, another wonderful show also signed by Beatrice, played at Constanta. I played Rozika in that one.

HAVE YOU BEEN PART OF OTHER INTERESTING PROJECTS?

I had the chance to collaborate with well-known Romanian artists: Claudiu Bleont, Marius Bodochi, Marius Miha-lache.
Together with Marius Miha-lache I carried out a special project, inspired from Romanian music belonging to various times, which I successfully presented in Austria, Germany and Vietnam. The latest travel was to Belgium, where I took Romanian singing under the dome of the European Parliament.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR LAST PROJECT, CALLED “CRINA MATEI ORCHESTRA”!

Starting from old successful hits, fiddler songs, inspired by folklore, I wanted to bring to the public that particular music that addresses our common subconscious heritage, by introducing current trends to the ever young rhythms of the Romanian fiddler bands.

DOES THIS SHOW HAVE GUESTS FROM OVERSEAS?

Yes. My special guests are the Cubans in the band Los Cubanisi-mos. They have the role of demonstrating once more that, even though we may have two different cultures, music remains a universal language. Los Cubanisimos are those who, by means of their tunes, bring an addition of positive energy from the Caribbean area.

WHAT OTHER CHARACTERS DOES THE PROJECT INCLUDE?

The rhythms and musical performances are strongly sustained by humor, typically Romanian and ex-pressed in various shapes: either through text, or through a dialogue between the instruments or through a certain way I interpret things.

And then there are other actors dancing and singing, sometimes with subtle appeals, other times with outbursts of energy. They are Vasile, Petru and Vadim. They all work in Dan Puric’s band and their echnique is easily recognizable. The boys bring back the charm of times past, in contrast with contemporary rhythms and energies…And also add to the picture the costumes of the designer Geanina Punkosti.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A LUCKY PERSON?

I am a person loved and protected by God.

HAVE YOU BEEN IN ANY CASINO TO BET ON NUMBER 13?

No, even though 13 is no bad luck for me. However, I won the biggest sum of the evening the first time, and last, I set foot in a bingo room: beginner’s luck.

WHEN YOU HAVE THE TIME, DO YOU BROWSE THROUGH CASINO MAGAZINE?

I read it when I can find it on a plane.

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