Online Concert

Dear All!

This year we could not do our traditional "Russian for Singers" concerts life in Sydney. So we decided to go online.

Preparing this event was a great experience for all of us and we hope that you will enjoy watching it!

If you would like to participate in our future online recitals, please send us your expression of interest to info@russian4singers.com.

In Part 1 of the concert my wonderful teenage students will sing art songs by Glinka, Varlamov, Yakovlev, Listov and Rimsky-Korsakov.

In Part 2 you will hear beautiful professional singers and pianists from Australia and Europe performing works by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and Pauline Viardot.

Singing: Pamela Andrews, Natali Boghossian, Wendy Dixon, Suzi Stengel, Natalia Melnik, David Kless, Veronica Broustinov, Gabriel Gitman, Svetlana Rotenko, Vanessa Purnama, Yulia and Olesia Radzievskiy

Piano: Benjamin Burton, David Miller and Hans van Beelen

Program:

Part I: M.Glinka (1804-1857) "Ne Poj, Krasavitsa!" / "Oh, never sing for me again". Singing - David Kless, Piano - Benjamin Burton

A.Varlamov (1801 - 1848) "Na Zare Ty Yeyo Ne Budi" / “Do Not Wake Her at the Dawn”. Singing - Veronica Broustinov, Piano - Benjamin Burton

M.Yakovlev (1798 - 1868) “Zimnij Vecher” / "Winter Evening”. Singing - Gabriel Gitman, Piano - Benjamin Burton

A.Varlamov (1801 - 1848) “Krasnyj Sarafan” / “Red Sarafan” Singing - Svetlana Rotenko, Piano - Benjamin Burton

N.Listov (1873 - 1952) “Ya pomnyu val’sa zvuk prelestnyj…” / “I Remember The Charming Sound of The Waltz…” Singing - Olesia and Yulia Radzievskiy, Piano - Benjamin Burton

N.Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908) “O Chyom V Tishi Nochey” / “In The Silence Of The Nights” Singing - Vanessa Purnama, Piano - Benjamin Burton

Part II: S.Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943). “Siren" / “The Lilacs” Singing - Natalia Melnik, Piano - Benjamin Burton

S.Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) “Ne Poj, Krasavitsa!” / "Oh, never sing to me again" Singing - Suzi Stengel, Piano - Benjamin Burton

S.Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) “Uzh Ty Niva Moya!” / “The harvest of sorrow” Singing - Pamela Andrews, Piano - Benjamin Burton

S.Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) “Zdes’ Horosho” / “How Fair Is This Spot” Singing - Pamela Andrews, Piano - Benjamin Burton

P.Viardot (1821 - 1910) “Zaklinaniye” / “The Incantation” Singing - Natali Boghossian, Piano - Hans van Beelen

M.Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881) “Gde Ty, Zvyozdochka?” / “Where Are You, Little Star?” Singing - Wendy Dixon, Piano - David Miller

M.Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881) “Kalistrat” / “Kalistrat” Singing - Wendy Dixon, Piano - David Miller

M.Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881) “Gornimi Tikho Letela Dusha Nebesami...” / “A Soul Was Flying Quietly In The Skies…” Singing - Wendy Dixon, Piano - David Miller

Thank you very much for watching!

To find the scores and diction audio guides on Russian opera arias and art songs, please visit www.russian4singers.com/russian-songs-and-arias

Our Performers:

Pamela Andrews - Soprano is an experienced performer and has appeared as a soloist with The Metropolitan Orchestra, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Penrith Symphony Orchestra, SCUNA/National Capital Orchestra, Hobart Chamber Orchestra, Derwent Symphony Orchestra, Hobart Orpheus Choir, Tasmania University Musical Society, Hobart Festival of Voices Choir and City of Launceston Carols by Candlelight.

Repertoire performed includes Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. Pamela enjoys performing new works, and has premiered new repertoire by several Australian composers.

Recently, Pamela has enjoyed much competition success, and was a Semi-Finalist in the Sydney Eisteddfod Operatic Aria, and a Finalist in the 3rd Sydney International Song Prize adjudicated by Richard Bonynge AC CBE.

Opera roles performed include Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Opera Hunter), Arminda in La finta giardiniera (Operantics), Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro (Pacific Opera), Natasha in The Gondoliers Dream Getaway (Pacific Opera), Belinda and Second Woman in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas (various companies). Professional chorus experience includes fully-staged productions of Aida, Anna Bolena, Attila, Carmen, Faust, La Boheme and Turandot with Opera Australia, and Carmen, La Traviata and Tosca with Melbourne Opera. Pamela looks forward to a busy summer season with Opera Australia.

Natali Boghossian @nataliboghossian.mezzo is a mezzo-soprano based in Amsterdam. Drawing from her cross-cultural as well as literary background, she researches new colours, original themes and repertoire for her concerts with special respect for contemporary works. She also attracts attention as a multi-talented singer by also playing the piano on the stage. She is now under the vocal and artistic tutelage of dramatic soprano Elena Vassilieva.

Boghossian has made her Paris debut at the International Association “Dimitri Chostakovich” with Shostakovich’s works. With her musical collaborator Hans van Beelen, she regularly gives recitals in various venues in and out of the Netherlands. She has recently received a Performing Arts Fund grant from Dutch Fonds Podiumkunsten for her trio project in January 2021.

Her current operatic repertoire includes trouser roles like Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos/R. Strauss), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro/W. Mozart), Urbain (Les Huguenots/G. Meyerbeer), Stephano (Romeo et Juliette/C. Gounod) and mezzo-soprano roles like Carmen (Carmen/G. Bizet), Nancy (Albert Herring/B. Britten) and Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana/P. Mascagni).

In her repertoire she also has a variety of lieder, art and cabaret songs including those by Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Wolf, Schoenberg, Menotti, Walton, Weill, Britten, Bernstein, Agoshian and Tchouhadjian.

Suzi Stengel (soprano) was born in Rome to founder members of Baroque chamber group, i Musici, and grew up in South Africa. Her debut performance in Le Nuit D’ete (Berlioz) became the first of many guest soloist engagements with the KwaZulu Natal

Philharmonic Orchestra. She had many solo recitals through the Friends of Music and Not the Grahamstown Festival, and performed regularly with the Baroque 2000 Orchestra as well as The Early Music Ensemble.

In Australia she completed her Masters of Music, performing in recital regularly in the St Andrews Cathedral and the Art Gallery of NSW Lunchtime Concert Series recitals. With the Hourglass Ensemble, Suzi performed in two programs; ‘Hourglass Beach’ and ‘Danzas Amarosas’ at the Sydney Opera House and the Melbourne Recital Centre. She was a member of Divas on Demand and played the part of Mimi in their adapted ‘La Boheme a piacere’, which debuted at The Independent Theatre in Sydney. More recently she has been associated with the Emerging Artists of Coast Opera Australia and will appear with them again at Saddlers in February 2021. She has appeared regularly in recital at the Friday Lunch-time Concert series at St. Stephens and in Russian for Singers Concerts.

Wendy Dixon has had a highly successful international career as a soprano soloist working in Europe, the Americas, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. She continues singing through performances as Grevillea Ensemble in partnership with David Miller. Together they have recorded over ten CD’s of Australian Art Song.

Wendy created Opera Boot Camp Australia, a programme for 15-25 year old potential opera singers. Sydney Art Song Society is another program of which Wendy is Artistic Director, designed for mature age singers to continue their exploration of the Art Song repertoire of various styles and countries.

Wendy is a firmly committed educationalist, gaining her Master of Music (Mus.Ed.) USyd 2007 with her thesis investigating vocal repertoire for HSC and mid-adolescent performers. She has also co-written three books on Australian Art Songs. Her doctoral studies are exploring the relationship between composers and performers in the creation of contemporary art song.

Wendy is a Full Time Lecturer in Academic Studies at the Australian Institute of Music with duties including one-on-one teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate students in classical and music theatre streams, supervision of Masters students, running masterclasses and ensembles, writing the technical vocal syllabus and examining.

Natalia Melnik was born in Moscow, Russia and moved to Sydney in 2013. She is currently conducting her doctorate research at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Natalia’s research is focusing on identifying the barriers that non-Russian speaking singers face when approaching Russian vocal repertoire and suggesting the ways to overcome those barriers.

Working with Australian singers and choirs on their Russian songs and opera arias, Natalia has developed her unique method of teaching Russian diction for Singers, which is based on the specially designed diction scores (sheet music that incorporate IPA and translation) and video diction tutorials.

In 2016 Natalia has founded the “Russian for Singers” project, which is aiming to make Russian vocal music more accessible for non-Russian speaking singers all over the World.

Currently the project includes private and group coaching session, "Russian for Singers" website www.russian4singers.com , blogs on Facebook and Instagram, and a YouTube channel with free video tutorials. In addition to that Natalia runs regular concerts of Russian vocal music at the Sydney Conservatorium and St.Stephen’s Uniting Church, providing additional performance opportunities for emerging singers.

Over these years Natalia enjoyed working as a Russian Language coach with the Australian Institute of Music, Sydney Conservatorium Choir, Sydney Art Song Society and numerous individual singers.

Natalia is a dedicated voice teacher and an active performer; she sings roles in opera productions, as well as numerous recitals throughout the year, specializing in coloratura arias and Russian music.

We are delighted to have children participating in our concert once again!

David Kless (11 years old) started singing lessons with Natalia Melnik two years ago, at the age of 9. In addition to singing solo, David is an enthusiastic member of a teenage band "Pearls & Sapphires", and a soloist of the Russian children choir "Kalinka". David has been learning to play the piano since the age of 6 years, and has achieved considerable proficiency in this instrument. He has also been playing saxophone in the school band for almost two years. One day he hopes to be a true multi-instrumentalist. Aside from music, David's interests include technology and geography. He is a young man known for his friendly disposition and an optimistic outlook.

Veronica Broustinov (14 years old) has been singing since she was a little girl. Her journey as a singer began 4 years ago when she started taking singing lessons with Natalia Melnik. Veronica sings in many languages other than English, including Russian, Japanese, Hebrew and Italian. Veronica also enjoys making artworks and writing in her spare time. Her interests include Japanese language and culture, multimedia technology and drama.

Gabriel Gitman is a 14 year old boy who loves singing. He is singing everywhere and all the time. Even when he is streaming on his channel playing Minecraft, being a goalkeeper at soccer or playing tennis/.. literally everywhere. Gabriel has been taking singing lessons, wining awards at singing competitions and actively performing for the past three years. He speaks fluent English, French and Russian and loves singing in all of these languages.

Olesia and Yulia Radzievskiy (10 and 12 years old) moved to Australia from Siberia with their parents nine years ago. They come from a very musically talented family - their father is a successful jazz musician and their mother worked as a dancer for a long time. Yulia and Olesia have been taking singing classes for two years now, participating in competitions, winning prizes and successfully passing auditions. They also study piano, dancing and art. Their parents believe that all these activities help them to not only develop their dancing, music and singing skills, but also encourage them to become disciplined, sociable and creative people in the future.

Svetlana Rotenko (10 years old) is a curious and active child. Her singing first started as a church choir and then she started to take private lessons. She also plays piano and guitar, takes swimming and drawing lessons. However, her favourite thing to do is reading.

Vanessa Purnama is an 18-year-old student who loves trying new things. She is also a talented young singer and composer. Her music interests spread from Handel to the 21st century Australian music. This is her very first experience with singing in Russian. Vanessa also performed this song by Rimsky-Korsakov for her HSC exam this year.

Benjamin Burton is a talented young pianist with a passion for accompanying vocal and instrumental performances. In his role as accompanist, Ben has performed all over the country, and in 2019 will be continuing to perform as pianist for the Opera Australia School's Tour, while also working as a freelance accompanist. Highlights over the last couple of years have included recording with the ABC (appearing on the CD Ballads of a Pleasant Life with Peter Coleman-Wright and the Nexas Quartet), performing with Moorambilla Voices for the Royal Visit to Dubbo, and giving recitals with Daniela Leska at Sydney Town Hall and the Polish Embassy. Ben was awarded 1st Prize in the 2017 Sydney Song Prize, and 2nd Best Pianist in the 2016 MIETTA National Art Song Competition. 2019 saw Ben giving chamber recitals with Sirius Ensemble in Grafton, in Narooma with various artists, and recording and touring with Moorambilla Voices for the 6th year.

David Miller is widely recognized as one of Australia's leading pianists, chamber musicians and vocal accompanists. He is also highly regarded as a mentor for young ensemble pianists and repetiteurs. He has been appointed as a member of the Order of Australia for his service to music.

David’s distinguished career has included partnerships with many internationally renowned singers and instrumentalists, and he has been a member of a number of Australian chamber music ensembles. He is a founding member of the acclaimed Grevillea Ensemble and pianist in the innovative Charisma Trio. He also performed with the legendary contemporary music group Flederman and the Huntington Piano Trio, and has toured and recorded regularly for the ABC and 2MBS-FM and also served for several years on the Artistic Review Panel for Musica Viva Australia, touring for them with the original Song Company.

In his role as chair of the Piano Accompaniment Unit, David introduced a uniquely innovative and comprehensive program of study at both graduate and undergraduate levels. David’s studio has produced many of Australia¹s finest young piano accompanists, and he was instrumental in setting up the Geoffrey Parsons Australian Scholarship and other awards to assist young accompanists and repetiteurs.

David has conducted masterclasses and lectures for schools, universities, conservatoriums, music organizations and music conferences in many parts of Australia and Asia. In 2006 he was the artist-in-residence at a highly successful Festival of Accompanists in Adelaide. On several occasions, he has been a panel member for the Mietta Song Recital Awards and a guest artist on the staff of the Australian National Academy of Music. He has also been the official pianist for the finals of the prestigious McDonald’s Operatic Aria and early in 2009 coordinated an innovative and highly successful Collaborative Pianist Program at the prestigious Australian String Academy’s Summer School in Sydney. He has given a number of illustrated lectures on the art of accompaniment to organizations such at the Music Teachers’ Association and the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing.

David is currently the president of the Accompanists' Guild of NSW and very active in the promotion of piano accompaniment as an independent art form worthy of professional recognition and academic research.

Hans van Beelen studied classical piano at the conservatories of The Hague and Amsterdam, where he was taught by Marlies van Gent and Willem Brons. He graduated from the latter in 2005. Hans is very active as accompanist and rehearsal for choirs and opera societies. As a pianist he won various prizes at competitions and participated in many master classes.