Chiesa di San Raimondo al Refugio (Via di Fieravecchia, 21 – Siena) – Hrs: 7 pm
PROGRAM
Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875)
“Habanera” aria tratta dall’opera “Carmen”
Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924)
“O mio babbino caro” aria tratta dall’opera “Gianni Schicchi”
“Donde lieta uscì” aria tratta dall’opera “La Bohème”
Antonin Dvorak (1841 – 1904)
“Rusalka”
Frederick Loewe (1901 – 1988)
“I could have danced all night” canzone tratta dal musical “My Fair Lady”
Henry Mancini (1924 – 1994)
“Moon river” canzone tratta dalla colonna sonora del film “Colazione da Tiffany”
Carlos Eleta Almaràn (*1918)
“Historia de un amor”
Consuelo Velazquez (1916 – 2005)
“Bésame mucho”
MARYANA BODNAR, soprano
Before becoming musician Maryana Bodnar had studied in the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” in Kiev and received Master degree in Culture Studies. Then she started an extremely prominent career in International journalism and soon after was invited to work in the Information Service of President’s Administration of Ukraine, but decided to leave it for music and opera. She started music studies first in Kiev and already at the beginning of her studies and singing career won in 2007 III Prize on International Singing Competition “XXI Century Art”. In 2008 Maryana was accepted to the “Conservatorio Santa Cecilia”, were she studied baroque singing with Sara Mingardo and took vocal technique lessons in the class of Valentina Maraffa and Anna Vandi. During studies she was constantly chosen as an active participant of the master classes with such singers as Edda Moser, Mariella Devia, and Daniella Dessì, Ines Salazar and Ewa Iżykowska and famous opera director Renzo Giacchieri, who worked on stages of Metropolitan Opera and Arena di Verona. In 2009 – received II Prize in the VII International Singing Contest A.Gi.Mus and was invited to sing her first solo recitals in different locations in Italy and abroad. In Italy she participated in Opera Laboratory held by Conservatorio St.Cecilia and in series of small opera productions (Michaela,“Carmen”Bizet, Zerlina, “Don Giovanni”Mozart, Musetta, “La Boheme”Puccini).
Maryana received Scholarships for the International Seminar of Opera singing “La voce in teatro”, in 2011 for the course of opera interpretation with Edda Moser at the «Europäische Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst» and in 2012 the Performance Grant for Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. In 2011 she took course of vocal technique perfection with Giuseppe Sabbatini and soon after moved to Vienna to continue with Ukrainian singer Viktoria Loukyanetz. In Vienna Maryana started to sing in Staatsoper and in 2014 participated in «Audition Laboratory» with Peter Edelman. She sang recitals in Austria, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Malta, and Switzerland and in 2016 debuted in the role of Dido in Purcel’s “Dido and Aeneas”.
Maryana likes experimenting with classical music and performing it in interesting and unusual forms. In 2015-2016 she organized and performed in projects „Night Gravity“,“Flagro“ (classical, neoclassical music) and was invited to perform on Malta in “Strada Stretta Concept” in 2016 and 2017, executing opera arias accompanied by jazz band and will appear there in the modern production of Pucini’s opera “Turandot”. Besides, Maryana collaborates with famous Italian guitarist Edoardo Catemario on the project of Spanish and Italian music and prepares to launch a new project of classical crossover music with composer Enrico Fabio Cortese and crossover of electronic music with Boxedge.
MICHELE DI TORO, piano
Michele Di Toro graduated with top marks, praise and special mention at
“L. D’Annunzio” Conservatory of Pescara and obtained the Performance Diploma
unanimously at “Alfred Cortot L’Ecole Normale de Musique of Paris”. He pursued the studies required by “classical” pianism but was soon influenced by Afro-American music that led him to follow the Civic Courses of Jazz in Milan.
His adventures in jazz have taken him through Ragtime and through the pages of the great pianists of “stride”; he was inspired above all by the musical sensitivity and improvisation of Jarrett.
The technique and knowledge acquired from classical studies and an innate ability for
improvisation allow him to interpret classical authors in a contemporary, mainly jazz,
language.
He has won numerous national and international competitions among which the“F.Gulda”Award for Jazz Pianists and obtained a note of merit at the “Martial Solal” International Competition in Paris.
He has appeared and recorded in piano solos as well as duo, trio, quartet and orchestra, achieving widespread success with the public and critics. In 2005 he formed a trio using his name with Yuri Goloubev on double bass (www.yurigoloubev.com) and Marco Zanoli on drums(www.marcozanoli.it), proposing original compositions and revisited jazz standards.
He has performed with various artists, among whom Fabrizio Bosso, Paolo Fresu, Franco Cerri,Irio De Paula, Alain Caron, Barbara Casini, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Roberto Prosseda and the Strings and Winds Ensemble of the Berliner Philarmonica Orchestra. He has been the guest in various shows and festivals such as Umbria Jazz, Chieti Week of Mozart, Iseo Jazz and Festival Jazz of Santiago Del Cile. He has performed in the theatres, auditoriums and jazz clubs in the main Italian cities and abroad, among which France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Chile, Finland, Great Britain and Canada.
He has been a guest on important television and radio programmes and since 2012 he is a UNICEF representative.