MARIA GESSLER, soprano and KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA, piano

Concert of

MARIA GESSLER, soprano (Switzerland)

KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA, piano (Ukraine)

Program: P. I. Tchaikovsky, H. Wolf, K. Tang, R. Wagner, C. Debussy, G. Mahler

The concert will take place on

Tuesday, December 6th 2016 at 20h in

Art Centre GUARNERIUS

MARIA GESSLER

Born in Basel, Switzerland, Maria Gessler studied singing with Verena Schweizer at the Music Academy in Basel. Simultaneously she studied baroque performance practice with Rene Jacobs at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

She went on to be a member of the opera studio Basel and attended masterclasses with Edith Mathis, Anna Reynolds, Brigitte Fassbaender, and Margreet Honig. She was twice awarded the Migros-Scholarship in the course of her studies.

Following her studies, Maria Gessler has been engaged as a principal artist in several German opera houses (Freiberg, Plauen-Zwickau, Darmstadt), singing a wide variety of lyrical and dramatic soprano roles including the Countess in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, Hanna Glawari in Lehar’s “Lustige Witwe”, Nedda in Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”, the Marschallin in Strauss’s “Rosenkavalier”, and the title role in Puccini’s “Tosca”, to name but a few.

She has performed as a guest artist in several European opera houses, appearing as Tatjana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” in Wuppertal (Germany), Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Stettin (Poland), Eva in Wagner’s “Meistersinger” under Gustav Kuhn at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Austria), and the mother in Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel” in Basel (Switzerland).

Maria Gessler’s operatic work is complimented by a large oratorio repertoire and she has an established reputation as an interpreter of Lied. Her recital programmes, exploring musical and literary figures and themes such as Alma Mahler, Friedrich Nietzsche and Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister”, have received international acclaim.

 www.mariagessler.com

KSENIIA VOKHMIANINA

Kseniia Vokhmianina extensively performs as a piano recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician on various concert stages in Europe and Asia.

Kseniia Vokhmianina extensively performs internationally as a piano recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. Ms Vokhmianina’s recent performances were at Steinway Gallery (Singapore), Concert Hall of Ho Chi Minh City National Conservatory of Music (Vietnam), Seoul Arts Centre (South Korea), Sydney Eisteddfod (Australia), George Town Festival (Malaysia), recitals at the opening of the 1st Chopin International Piano Competition (Thailand), and at the Auditorium Olivier Messiaen of the Conservatoire of Cergy- Pontoise (France).

Kseniia was awarded the Lee Foundation Scholarship and the Tuition Grant from the Ministry of Education of Singapore to attain the Diploma in Music Performance course at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) under the tutelage of distinguished Prof. Boris Kraljević. Kseniia was granted the diploma as the “Best Graduate”, and became a recipient of the prestigious degree scholarship to pursue Bachelor of Music (Hons) at the Royal College of Music (UK). In 2015 Kseniia completed her Masters in Music with distinction at the Kharkiv National Pedagogical University in Ukraine.

Being a prizewinner of international piano competitions held in France, Australia, Indonesia, Poland, Italy, Serbia, Malaysia and Singapore, Ms Vokhmianina’s most recent achievements include the 1st Prize (Artist category) at Medan International Piano Competition (Indonesia, 2015), the 2nd Prize in “Russian Piano” category at Sydney Eisteddfod (Australia, 2014), and two awards (including “Prix du Barreau du Val D’oise”) at Piano Campus International Piano Competition (France, 2015).

Ms. Vokhmianina appeared as a concerto soloist with Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Symphony Orchestra, Festival Symphony Orchestra (Singapore), Kharkiv Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine), Belgorod Chamber Orchestra (Russia), and Kaunas Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (Lithuania). She has been a guest artist in several international music festivals, including “Days of Music” (Montenegro), “The Guests of Aivazovsky” (Ukraine), “E. Grieg-M. Ciurlionis” (Lithuania) and “International Piano Festival” (Vietnam) which were warmly received by both, audience and music critics.

Besides her international career, Ms Vokhmianina is a full-time Music Faculty member of the School of The Arts (SOTA) in Singapore, working closely with instrumentalists and vocalists, and performing with students and visiting artists in many recitals, concerts, and master-classes. Kseniia’s scheduled engagements for this year include performances at the Institut Supérieur de Musique et de Pédagogie (Belgium), the Arts House and Esplanade Recital Studio (Singapore), recitals at Singapore International Festival of Music 2016 and International Festival of ChamberMusic “Convivium Musicum” (Serbia).

 http://www.kseniiavokhmianina.com/