Operatic, symphonic works to kick off the Manoel season

The Manoel Theatre opens the 2010-2011 season with a grand vocal and instrumental concert by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Brian Schembri on October 1.

The programme is divided into two – the first half featuring Russian music, mainly various arias and duets from operas by Tchaikovsky, and the second half being dedicated to Puccini.

The two singers taking part are both from Russia: soprano Elena Evseeva and tenor Oleg Kulko.

The Tchaikovsky half features the very popular Overture-Fantasy Romeo and Juliet and vocal excerpts from the operas Pikoyava Dama (The Queen of Spades) and Iolanta.

In the Puccini half the intermezzo La Tregenda from Le Villi will be performed while the vocal pieces are from Tosca as well as the whole fourth act from Manon Lescaut.

Soprano Elena Evseeva is enjoying a flourishing career including performances at her native Moscow’s Bolshoi Opera, where she is on the official soloists list.

At the beginning of her career she was awarded various prizes in singing competitions such as the Glinka in Russia, the Vienna Belvedere, the Moniuszko in Warsaw and the Bellini in Catania.

Among non-Russian roles she has scored various successes in Mozart’s Requiem and Le nozze di Figaro, Puccini’s La Bohème, Manon Lescaut, Edgar, Turandot (as Liù), Madama Butterfly and in Verdi’s La Traviata, Luisa Miller, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo and the Requiem.

Tenor Oleg Kulko, a Bolshoi soloist since 1988, graduated from Kiev’s Conservatory and made his debut at the Kiev Opera two years before in 1986. Among leading roles he has sung there are in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mlada, Tchaikosky’s The Maid of Orleans and Pikoyava Dama, (the first two of which have been recorded and released on DVD), Borodin’s Prince Igor, Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Aida, Puccini’s Tosca and Turandot and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.

He has been on tour with the Bolshoi Opera at the Teatro alla Scala, the Edinburgh Festival and in Glasgow. He also took part in concert performances of Tosca and Aida at the Royal Albert Hall, sung Calaf in Turandot in Taiwan and Lithuania and also Lensky in Yevgeny Onyegin in Montpellier.

• Tickets for the concert may be obtained from the Manoel Theatre booking office by phone on 2124 6389, by e-mail: bookings@teatrumanoel.com or online: www.teatrumanoel.com.mt.