Singers 2008

IULIA ELENA SURDU

Soprano

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS:
- In present ,student as Master at``Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve``-(Diplome de Solist,) ,singing professor MARIA DIACONU -

June 2007 -Graduate of National University of Music Bucharest,(Singing Interpretation Diploma),opera and lied performance department ,singing professor MARIA SLATINARU NISTOR

June 2003- Graduate of “George Enescu” Music High School,singing class – Bucharest

MASTER CLASSES:

- 7-8 of March 2008 ,Contemporany music Masterclass Luisa Castellani,in the Music Conservatory of Geneve

- 3rd -11th July 2006 and 28th August-25 th September 2006, participant of professional instruction for young artists, summer courses organised by ” European Academy of Baroque Music ” from Ambronay(France), (Musical rhetoric,ornamentation,harmonic colour and diction with GABRIEL GARRIDO-conductor- and LEONARDO GARCIA ALARCON-coaching vocal baroque,harpsichordist-, baroque dance with ANA YEPES, singing and language coaching with GLORIA BANDITELLI, stage work and dramaturgic lessons with PIERRE KUENTS)

- 2004 Singing Masterclass with George Crasnaru in the National University of Music from Bucharest

ARTISTIC ACTIVITY:

– Performing of different concerts and singing recitals in Bucharest, other cities from Romania and abroad (Italy, France,Turkey,Israel,Switzerland ):

• The National University of Music from Bucharest - „George ENESCU” Concert Hall, opera in concert, Zerlina’s part in opera performance show Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart, conductor: Alexandru PETROVICI, 1st of June 2007;

• The National Musical Comedy Theatre „Ion DACIAN”, stage 2006-2007, Thisbe’s part in opera performance show Pyram and Thisbe by Michel Pignolet de Monteclair and John Frederich Lampe, premiere on 20th of April 2007; Coproduction of Bucharest National Opera House & The National Musical Comedy Theatre „Ion DACIAN”; Show organized in partnership with The French Institute from Bucharest and The French Embassy from Romania. Stage coach: Andreea VALEAN; Conductor: Tiberiu SOARE; Choreography: Mary COLLINS(England) Singing coach: Sophie BOULIN.(France)

• Bucharest National Opera House, (Studio experimental of baroc music) Giulia’s part in opera performance show Deceballo by Leonardo Leo, June-October-November 2006;

• European Tour - France, Iole’s part in opera performance show Ercole Amante by Francesco Cavalli, conducted by Gabriel Garrido, produced and founded by „European Academy of Baroque Music” from Ambronay, 26th of September 2006 - 14th of October 2006; (Theatre de Bourg en Bresse, Vichy Opera House,Toulon Opera House, Reims Opera, Paris-Salle Gaveau,and Besançon Opera)

• Live Dvd recording of Ercole Amante (Iole’s part), Theatre de Bourg en Bresse,(France) first performance of Ercole Amante – on 28th of September 2006 • Radio France,concert and live recording of Ercole Amante (Iole’s part,act II-III), Paris, Salle Gaveau – 9th of October 2006

• Romanian Atheneum Giulia’s part from opera Decebalo (1743) by Leonardo Leo, concert version,baroc orchestra Collegio stravagante conductor: Lorenzo Tozzi – 19 th of June, 2005 -Bucharest

• Prosa, balletto e musica nella XXI edizione del Festival di Tagliacozzo (Italy) Opera (in concert) Decebalo de Leonadro Leo, conductor Lorenzo Tozzi, Giulia’s part – 23th of July 2005.

Winner of the following performing contest prizes:

• 13 June 2008 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competetition,Norrkoping, Sweden,The FIRST PRIZE

• May 2007 ,Annual National Contest of Lied Performing “Ionel PERLEA”, Slobozia, The GREATEST PRIZE;

• 13-16 june 2007 Finalist of The International Singing Competition `Blue Danube`first edition –Galati,Romania

• Annual National Contest of Lied Performing, “Ionel PERLEA”, Slobozia, 2006: 3 rd PRIZE;

• Annual National Contest of Romanian Lied Performing, Braşov, 2005: 2 nd PRIZE;

• The 14 th Annual National Contest of Music Performing “Mihail Jora”, Bucureşti, 2004: 3 rd PRIZE;

• The 14 th Annual National Contest of Music Performing “Mihail Jora”, Bucureşti, 2004: ARAX SAVAGIAN PRIZE;

• “George Georgescu” National Performing Contest, Tulcea, 2003: 2 nd PRIZE;

• 9 th Singing Performing Contest for Romanian Arts High School Students, Brăila, 2003: 2 nd PRIZE;

• “Paul Constantinescu” National Performing Contest, Ploieşti, 2003: 3 rd PRIZE;

• “Marţian Negrea” National Performing Contest, Ploieşti, 2003: 3 rd PRIZE;

• 8 th Singing Performing Contest for Romanian Arts High School Students, Brăila, 2002: 2 nd PRIZE.

Iulia Elena Surdu sings:

Strauss: Cäcilie

Listen here (Strauss)

Iulia Elena Surdu sings:

Wilhelm Stenhammar: Fylgia, Fylgia fly mig ej

Listen here (Stenhammar)  

Last news:

Ostrava, Czech Republic
Marguereta from Faust by Gounod
Magda from Rondine by Puccini

! Just recieving a contract at the Dusseldorf Opera House, Germany

JOHAN WÅLLBERG

Baryton

Johan är uppvuxen i Mörrum. Han är utbildad vid Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm, Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst i Frankfurt am Main samt Operahögskolan i Stockholm.

År 2000 debuterade han i Vadstena-akademiens uppsättning av Zander/Envallssons ”Kopparslagaren”. Han har även medverkat i Martin y Solers opera ”La Capricciosa Coretta” på Drottningholms slottsteater, Kungliga Operans uppsättning av Verdis Don Carlos samt Jahnkeoperans ”Fröken Julie” på Intima teatern i Stockholm. Sommaren 2007 medverkade han i Opera på Skärets uppsättning av ”Kronofogdarne och slåtterölet”- där han gjorde inte mindre än tre roller! Sommaren 2008 var Johan tillbaka på Skäret för att göra sakristanen i Tosca.

Johan är ofta anlitad som konsert- och oratoriesolist och har framträtt med körer och orkestrar i Sverige, Danmark, Finland och Tyskland.

Han har mottagit stipendium från Anders Walls stiftelser- ”Confidencenstipendiet”, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien samt Blekinge läns landstings kulturstipendium. 2006 utnämndes Johan till Christina Nilsson-stipendiat. I juni 2008 vann han andra pris i Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition.

Johan Wållberg sings:

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro, Hai gia vinta la causa

with The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Listen here (Mozart)

Johan Wållberg sings:

Wilhelm Stenhammar: Positivvisan, Kom hit och hör

Piano :  Mats Jansson

Listen here (Positivvisan)  

Layla Claire

Soprano

A 2008 Queen Elisabeth Competition Laureate, Canadian soprano Layla Claire has been called a “focused, remarkably rich soprano” (The Morning Star) who performs with “emotive force and a poised sensitivity” (Palm Beach Daily News). Her engaging and thoughtful musicianship, combined with a voice of shimmering beauty, has been publicly acclaimed, particularly in performances of Strauss lieder and Canteloube’s Chant d’Auvergnes.

Layla Claire opens the 2008-09 season with her Montreal Symphony Orchestra debut as Clotilde in Norma under the baton of music director Kent Nagano. She tours Europe with the Belgian early music ensemble, La Petite Bande, before returning to the Curtis Opera Studio for Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. She makes her company debut at Palm Beach Opera as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and finishes the season with the Ft. Smith Symphony in Bach’s Mass in b minor.

Last season, Layla Claire’s performances included Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte at Tanglewood with James Levine; Elijah with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia; Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with Montreal’s Michel Brousseau; Morawetz’s The Diary of Anne Frank with the Laval Symphony Orchestra under Alan Trudel; and works by Mozart and Handel with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.

As a student at the Curtis Opera Studio Ms. Claire has performed Erisbe in Cavalli’s l’Ormindo, Yvette in La Rondine, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Margarita Xirgu in the Opera Company of Philadelphia co-production of Golijov’s Ainadamar. Other recent appearances have included Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, Mozart arias with the Laval Symphony Orchestra, and opera scenes with the Leonardo da Vinci Orchestra.

Layla Claire has won numerous awards including the Mozart Prize at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition (2008), and First Prize in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (2005), resulting in an extensive recital tour across Canada as well as the Brandon Prize for best performance of the commissioned work. She is a CBC Radio-Canada Jeunes Artistes recital winner, a two-time recipient of a J. Desmarais Foundation Bursary, and a proud recipient of a Canada Council Grant. She has also taken prizes at the Palm Beach Opera Competition and the Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists Competition.

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Layla Claire studied voice at l’Université de Montreal before attending the Curtis Institute of Music. She was a 2007 Britten-Pears Young Artist in Aldeburgh, England where she performed Spanish and French art song under the tutelage of Roger Vignoles.

Wilhelm Stenhammar: I skogen

Piano :  Ursula Rüttimann

Listen here (I skogen)  

Singers 2006

EKATERINA GODOVANETS

Soprano

Born in Moscow, Ekaterina Godovanets starts her musical education at the age of 5. She
graduates the Tchaikovski Conservatoires musical academy, as well as the Conservatoire
National Superieur de Musique de Paris. In 2002 she integrates lEcole Normale de Musique
de Paris in Caroline Dumas class, where she receives the "Art Lyrique" and concert artist diplomas. She takes part in many masterclasses, for instance with J.Ph Lafont and the collaboration of Theatre du Chatelet in 2002 and 2003, with Ch. Ludwig, P.-E Deiber, D.
Henschel, J-P Fauchecourt, M. Honig, R. Massard, A. Milcheva, F. Le Roux, J. Demus...
Ekaterina Godovanets has interpreted excerpts of: Cosi fan Tutte, La Forza del Destino, Der Freischutz, Le Nozze di Figaro, Otello, and oratorios such as La Passion selon St. Matthieu, Kindertotenlieder (Mahler) and Wesendonklieder (Wagner), Last Four
Lieder (R.Strauss) with the Philarmonic Orchestra of Crimea. She has sung recitals with J.Ph. Lafont at the Palais de la Decouverte de Paris, the Poeme de lAmour et de la
Mer in Yaroslavl, Lincoronatione di Poppea (Ottavia) directed by E. Haim, Stabat Mater (Rossini) directed by J.P Delgrange, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen in Paris, directed by J. Deroyer, Recital of opera themes in the Chateau dEsclimont, Requiem by Schumann in the Massy Opera, Recitals at Festivals, as Sceaux, Burgundy,”Viva voce” in Caen and in Paris...

In 2006, Ekaterina Godovanets is invited at the Brescia Festival for a series of recitals of
french music and takes part in Gaelle Le Gallics broadcast on France Musique in march 2006. During the 2006-2007 season she has sung in "Concerts de Midi" in Antwerpen and Gent, with the Vlaamse Opera, Requiem for the victims of Fascism (Lopes-Graca) in Sao Carlos of Lisbonne and Porto, New Year Concert in Norrkoping in Sweden, Cosi Fan Tutte (Fiordiligi) directed by D. Renzetti and Die Walkure in Lisbonne, directed by M. Letonja,
mise-en-scene G. Vick, Concerts of Opera themes in the Cairo Opera as well as at the
Orangerie de Sceaux festival and Recital of Lieder by Schubert at the Saint-Lizier Festival.
Ekaterina Godovanets won the Grand Prix de la Melodie Francaise in 2005 in Toulouse, the
first prize as well as publics prize in "Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music competition" in Sweden and the third prize in Toulouse in 2006.

Ekaterina Godovanets sings:

Verdi : from ¨La Forza del Destino¨ aria  ¨Pace,pace¨
with The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Conductor: Nader Abbassi

Listen here (Verdi)

Ekaterina Godovanets sings:

Wilhelm Stenhammar: from ¨Drei Heinrich Heine-lieder¨: ¨Ich lieb eine Blume¨

Piano :  Ursula Rüttimann

Listen here (Ich lieb)    (Live)

Evgenia Grekova

Soprano

The Russian soprano was trained in Moscow and Karlsruhe. During the past few years, she has furthered her education with master classes given by E. Schwarzkopf, E. Mathis, M. Freni and M. Horne. The State Opera in Stuttgart invited her as a guest artist while she was still a student. From 2001 — 2005 she was a member of the ensemble at the State Theater in Nürnberg. Included in her repertoire are the following: Pamina, Konstanze, Zerlina, Olympia, Sophie („Rosenkavalier“ and „Werther“), Micaela, Gilda among others.

She has been the recipient of numerous prizes from International Competitions: R. Schumann Competition (Zwickau); Fr. Schubert & Moderne (Graz, 2001); Fr. Vinas Competition (Barcelona, 2004); Musikzauber Franken Liedwettbewerb (Director S. Jerusalem, Ansbach, 2004); Mozart & Belcanto Competition (Passau, 2005); Citta di Alcamo (Director V. Zeani, Sicily, 2005); Stenhammar Competition (Director K. Meyer, Sweden, 2006); Mozart Competition (Salzburg, 2006). Also in 2006, she returned as a winner with five prizes from the „Unisa Voice Competition“ held in Pretoria, South Africa in 2006 (Director G. Bumbry).

She has participated as a soprano in the Festspiele of Bayreuth, Rheingau and R. Strauss. In the 2002 Festspiele of Bayreuth she sang the roles of Woodbird (Siegfried) and Young Shepherd (Tannhäuser) and was unanimously praised both by the audience and the critics. The „Neue Zürcher Zeitung“ referred to her as the „vocal event of the evening.“

Numerous guest appearances have taken the soprano to Halle, Erfurt, Braunschweig, Mannheim, Gstaad, Monaco, Semperoper Dresden, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Vienna State Opera, Nantes, Angers, China and Russia.

She has worked with the following Conductors (among others): Thielemann, Pappano, Fischer, Augine, Rilling and Sawallisch.

Evgenia Grekova sings: 

Mozart :  from ¨Die Zauberflöte¨  aria  Ach, ich fühl  s

Listen here (Ach, ich fühl)

Evgenia Grekova sings:

Listen here (Flickan kom ifrån...)    (Live)

Sara Andersson

Soprano

Sara was awarded scholarships by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2006 she won third prize in the Wilhelm Stenhammar Competition and in 2007 Sara was awarded the Swedish Bayreuth scholarship.

Roles performed
Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Drottningholms Slottsteater, Stockholm 2006
First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, The Royal Opera in Stockholm 2006
Helmwige in Die Walküre, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Lisboa 2007
Atalanta in Xerxes, Drottningholms Slottsteater, Stockholm 2007
Agathe in Der Freischütz, Kammer-oper Rheinsberg and Staatstheater Braunschweig 2007

Lied- and Oratorio concerts in Sweden, Denmark and Germany, including
Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saëns), St John Passion (Bach), Förklädd Gud (Lars-Erik Larsson), Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Ordet (Sven-David Sandström), and the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré and Duruflé.

Sara Andersson sings: 

Wagner :  from  ¨Tannhäuser¨  aria  ¨Dich teure Halle¨ 
With The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Condutor: Nader Abbassi

Listen here (Dich teure Halle) 

Wilhelm Stenhammar:  I skogen

Piano: Mats Jansson

Listen here (I skogen)      (Live)