He was born in Cluj, Romania, on 16/8/1955 and trained at the Cluj Conservatory. He made his professional opera debut in 1979 as Silvano in Un ballo in maschera at the Cluj-Napoca Romanian National Opera. He was active at that house throughout the 1980s, singing mostly roles of the Italian repertoire. Due to his powerful and flexible voice, he has particularly excelled in performing operas by Verdi. His repertoire includes, among others, the following roles: Escamillo (Carmen), Belcore (L'elisir d'amore), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana), Barnaba (La Gioconda), Scarpia (Tosca), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Amonasro (Aida), Il conte di Luna (Il trovatore), Alfredo Germont (La traviata), Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) and Gérard (Andrea Chénier). He has performed in major Opera houses, such as the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, Berlin State Opera, The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Arena di Verona, Paris Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and Teatro Real in Madrid. He has worked with conductors such as Georg Solti, Giuseppe Patané, James Levine, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi. He collaborated with the GNO performing the title roles in the operas Rigoletto (2000/01), Otello (2005/06) and Nabucco (2010/11 at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus). His discography is substantial. // Last update of the biography: December 2015 - The list of the productions below is complete.