Romanian Teodor Ilincai began his musical studies as an oboist, after which he entered the Bucharest Conservatory to study Byzantine Music and Musical Pedagogy. With the discovery of his vocal gifts, he turned his attention to singing under the guidance of famed Romanian tenor, Corneliu Fânățeanu.
Ilincăi began his professional career at the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest in 2006. In 2008 he won a scholarship in Vienna offered by CEE Musiktheatre and was awarded First Place at the Great Tenors Tournament in Szczecin, Poland. In the same year, at only 25 years old, he performed MacDuff in Verdi's Macbeth at the Bucharest National Opera House. In 2009 he was invited to sing the same role at the Hamburg State Opera. Later that year he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Ismaele in Nabucco and at the Royal Opera House as Rodolfo in La Bohème. In 2010 he won the Second Prize at the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona, which brought him his first appearance on the stage of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona as Rodolfo in 2012. In January of 2015, Ilincai made his debut as Pollione in Norma in Bucharest, which was the beginning of his development into the lirico-spinto repertoire. In the summer of 2015 he sang his first Cavaradossi in Tosca in San Sebastian, followed by his debut as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana at the Semperoper Dresden. In 2017 he appeared as the title role in Don Carlo at the Opéra de Marseille and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has since appeared as Cavaradossi at the Semperoper Dresden and Staatsoper Berlin opposite Angela Gheorghiu and made his Australian Opera debut in the same role. He was soon in demand all over the world and has appeared in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lausanne, Monte Carlo, Budapest, Strasbourg, Santiago de Chile, Opéra National de Paris, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra de Lausanne, Macerata Opera Festival, le Festival Avenches Opéra, Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Opera di Genova, San Diego Opera, Opéra Municipal de Marseille, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Semperoper Dresden, Opera Australia, New National Theatre Tokyo and many others. In the 2017/18 season, Ilincăi debuted at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana, a role which he also sang at the Hamburg State Opera. He also added the role of Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur to his repertoire at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. In the 2018/19 season, Teodor Ilincăi appeared for the first time with the ABAO in Bilbao as Rodolfo in La Bohème, sang Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Vienna State Opera and at the Royal Opera House London, and made his debut as Don José at the Hamburg Staatsoper. Other highlights of recent seasons have included Calaf and Cavaradossi at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Calaf at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf and Zürich Opera House, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Riga Opera House. Ilincăi added with succes to his repertoire new spinto-dramatic roles: Canio in I Pagliacci (Bucharest National Opera House), Radames and Otello (Timișoara National Opera House).
Teodor Ilincăi appeared often in concerts, alongside such opera stars as Angela Gheorghiu, Kristine Opolais and Anna Pirozzi.
Ilincăi has also been granted numerous awards, including Soloist of the Year at the Bucharest VIP Gala Awards and the Ludovic Spiess Prize by the Romanian Music Forum (2009), In Memoriam Iosif Sava distinction by Radio Romania Cultural (2010) and the Award of Excellence by Elite Art Club UNESCO Romania for being a cultural ambassador for Romania all over the world (2013). In March of 2016 Ilincăi was conferred The Order of the Romanian Crown at the Knight Rank by Princess Margareta, who bestowed the honour to the artist at the request of his Majesty King Mihai 1 of Romania. In 2018 he was conferred the Officer Rank of the same Order by Her Majesty Margareta of Romania.
Ilincăi resides in Romania and, when not appearing on the opera stage internationally, has also won high praise as a published poet and aphorisms writer (Cromatisme – 2013 and Mozaic – 2019).
(photo: Oana Saitis)
