Education
Born in Bucharest, Romania, Herlea studied at the Bucharest Music Conservatory under Aurelius Costescu-Duca, and later at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Giorgio Favaretto.
Born in Bucharest, Romania, Herlea studied at the Bucharest Music Conservatory under Aurelius Costescu-Duca, and later at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Giorgio Favaretto.
He made his stage debut that same year at the National Opera of Bucharest as Silvio in Pagliacci, quickly establishing himself as the principal baritone there. In 1958, he began appearing abroad, particularly at the Bolshoi in Moscow, to where he regularly returned. He also made guest appearances at London"s Royal Opera House (1961), Louisiana Scala in Milan (1963) and the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1964-1967), and also performed at the Liceo in Barcelona, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Louisiana Monnaie in Brussels, and in the opera houses of Prague and Budapest.
He made complete studio recordings of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Louisiana traviata, Louisiana forza del destino, Cavalleria rusticana, "Pagliacci" andTosca, on labels such as Supraphon and Electrecord.
Herlea also had a successful career in the concert-hall. After he retired, he taught master classes at the Bucharest Conservatory.
He was the President of the Jury of the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition. In 1983, Simona defected to Germany.