Olga Ionova
Soprano
Details
March 1
3:00 pm
University Auditorium
Tickets
A benefit performance for UF Russian Studies
Tickets available at 352-392-ARTS or www.ticketmaster.com
Performance by one of Moscow’s leading opera stars, soprano Olga Ionova. With Roberta Swedien on piano.
Lyric-coloratura soprano Olga Ionova has been earning recognition and high praise for her opera, oratorio and recital performances. Music critic George Loomis of the International Herald Tribune described her portrayal of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater as “exquisite”. She made her debut in 2001 at the Novaya Opera as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto. She has appeared in leading roles in Verdi’s La Traviata, Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snowmaiden, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini, Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Ms. Ionova is currently a regular soloist at the Novaya Opera and a frequent guest soloist at the Bolshoi Theater. Her oratorio performances have included Bach’s Magnificat and B Minor Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Seven Words of Christ, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Verdi’s Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana and she has worked with such outstanding conductors as Valeriy Polianskiy, Stuart Bedford, Tomas Zanderling, Leonid Nikolaev, Ery Klas, Vladimir Fedoseev and Alexander Rudin. In recital, Ms. Ionova has received acclaim for her stunning interpretations of the songs of Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Schubert and Liszt. Her very active career has taken her to Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Egypt, China and Japan as well as throughout Russia. This season she will be appearing in the leading roles for the Novoya Opera’s productions of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Since 1997 Ms. Ionova has participated in international competitions and master classes in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and her native Russia. Her training was at the Alfred Schnitke Moscow Music College and the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory where she studied under Klara Kadinskaya, Ludmila Ermakova and Vladimir Zdanov.
Ms. Ionova’s CD recordings include Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and The Divine Liturgy after the Order of St. John Chrysostomes for M-Classic Records and a collection of Russian Sacred Music for Cantabile.
