PROGRAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Don Giovanni’s Serenade Deh vieni alla finestra / Oh, Come to the Window – from the opera Don Giovanni
Susanna and the Countess Duettino Canzonetta sull’aria / Canzonetta on the Gentle Breeze – from the opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Zerlina and Don Giovanni Duettino Là ci darem la mano / There I Shall Give You My Hand
Don Giovanni Aria Fin ch’han dal vino / While the Wine Still Flows
from the opera Don Giovanni

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Renato and Amelia Scene A tal colpa è nulla il pianto / No Tears Can Wash Away Such Guilt
Amelia Aria Morrò, ma prima in grazia / I Shall Die, but First One Favour
Renato Aria Eri tu… / It Was You…
from the opera Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball)

Charles Gounod (1818–1893)

Marguerite’s Aria Il était un roi de Thulé / There Once Was a King of Thule
Marguerite’s Jewel Song Ô Dieu! Que de bijoux! / Oh God! What Beautiful Jewels!
from the opera Faust

Giuseppe Verdi

Leonora Aria Tacea la notte placida / The Night Was Calm
Count di Luna and Leonora Duet Udiste?… Qual voce!… Come! Tu, donna? / Did You Hear?… What Voice!… What! You, Woman?
from the opera Il trovatore (The Troubadour)

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)

Lauretta Aria O mio babbino caro / Oh, My Dear Father – from the opera Gianni Schicchi
Tosca Aria Vissi d’arte / I Lived for Art – from the opera Tosca

Victor Herbert (1859–1924)

Primadonna Song Art is calling / Art Calls Me – from the operetta The Enchantress

Franz Lehár (1870–1948)

Hanna and Danilo Duet Lippen schweigen / Tunned, kuis meid paitab vaikus… – from the operetta Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow)

Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917)

O sole mio / My Sunshine

Finnish-born soprano MARION MELNIK began her vocal studies in the youth department of the Sibelius Academy and later in the Vocal Department. In 2008, she graduated from the Sibelius Academy with a Master’s degree in Opera Singing under the guidance of Prof. M. Hannula. Melnik’s repertoire covers a wide range from church music and lied to musicals, opera, classical crossover and pop music. She has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO), Kuopio City Orchestra and Mikkeli City Orchestra. Her opera roles include Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Maria in the musical West Side Story, Monica in Menotti’s opera The Medium, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Papagena in The Magic Flute and the Priestess in Verdi’s Aida. Melnik has performed at the Finnish National Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Birgitta Festival. In 2008, she made her debut at the Estonia Theatre as Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, working as a guest soloist from 2008–2011. In recent years, Melnik has actively performed in concerts and participated in independent opera productions. Since 2018, she has lived and worked in Estonia, where she is active as a singer and vocal teacher. Melnik teaches classical singing and since 2023 has been directing the classical singing studio Canto. Marion Melnik will make her debut in the role of Anaide at Vanemuine Theatre in 2027.

ILLE SAAR (soprano) graduated with a Master’s degree in Classical Singing from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (2019, lecturer N. Kurem). In 2015–2016, she furthered her studies through the Erasmus student exchange programme at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan, specialising in singing and performing leading roles in Puccini’s operas Tosca and Manon Lescaut. She continued her studies there from 2016–2018 as a scholarship holder of the Italian Republic, graduating in 2019 from Prof. D. Uccello’s class, performing among others Tosti’s Four Amaranta Songs, Rachmaninoff’s Spring Waters and Sibelius’ Luonnotar. In 2017, she performed at the Friends of La Scala Association in Milan at a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia. She has studied with the following outstanding musicians: F. Patanè, R. Bruson, D. Uccello, M. Formichella, G. Banditelli, G. Ravazzi, C. Rubin, H. Gjerris, N. Shetler, K. von Binzer, K. B. Møller, M. Shaguch. Saar has made her leading role debuts in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana (2017, 2018; Parma), Verdi’s La forza del destino (2018; Venice), and in April 2019 she debuted on the stage of RO Estonia as the Countess in Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro. Her achievements include the RO Estonia Young Singer Award “Naan Põld” (2014), the Hans Teetlaus Foundation (ERKF) Award in 2015 and being selected among the semi-finalists of the “Pelizzoni” International Opera Competition (2017). In 2019, Ille Saar received the PLMF Award “Young Singer 2019”, dedicated to Marje and Kuldar Sink.

ATLAN KARP obtained his Master’s degree in Opera Singing at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. From 2007–2012 he worked as a permanent opera soloist at Vanemuine Theatre and has been a freelance artist since 2012. Karp’s opera repertoire is extensive: Verdi’s Iago (Otello), Rigoletto (Rigoletto), di Luna (Il trovatore) and Amonasro (Aida); Wagner’s Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Alberich (Das Rheingold), Friedrich von Telramund (Lohengrin) and Klingsor (Parsifal); Puccini’s Scarpia (Tosca), Jack Rance (La fanciulla del West), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Schaunard (La bohème) and Il Mandarino (Turandot); Mozart’s Count Almaviva and Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni and Leporello (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) and Sprecher (The Magic Flute); Offenbach’s Lindorf, Coppélius, Dapertutto and Miracle (The Tales of Hoffmann) and Jupiter (Orpheus in the Underworld). Karp’s extensive concert repertoire also includes numerous vocal-symphonic large-scale works. Chamber music holds an important place in Karp’s artistic work. His wide-ranging repertoire includes vocal music and song cycles by both contemporary and classical Russian, French, German, Finnish and Estonian composers. Karp has performed on opera and concert stages in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Italy, Germany, Israel, Bulgaria and Poland and has collaborated with many conductors. In 2019, Atlan Karp won the Estonian Theatre Union Music Award for his powerful portrayals of Jack Rance in Puccini’s opera La fanciulla del West (RO Estonia) and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s short opera Il segreto di Susanna (Opera Veto).

Pianist and singer KATRIN LEHISMETS graduated in piano from Haapsalu Children’s Music School and Georg Ots Tallinn Music School. Her piano studies continued at the Tallinn Conservatory from 1989–1991. In 1995, she graduated from the Estonian Academy of Music in vocal performance. In 1999, Lehismets obtained her Master’s degree in the same field with honours (cum laude) from the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She furthered her studies in 1992 at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and since 2014 with Michèle Crider. Already during her studies, Lehismets worked as an accompanist. As a singer, she debuted in 1998 at Prague’s Stavovské Divadlo as Zerlina in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. Lehismets has been a soloist at the Prague State Opera, concertmaster at the Salzburg Landestheater, as well as music director and soloist, soloist, concertmaster and orchestra pianist at Landestheater Niederbayern, and singer, actress, pianist and music director at Salzburg Theater Offensive. As an actress, she has also worked at Theatre Varius. As a répétiteur, Lehismets has worked at the Salzburg Festival, the Mozarteum International Summer Academy, the Eva Lind Academy, Grace Bumbry’s private studio and has accompanied masterclasses of several outstanding opera singers (J. Kaufmann, S. Jo, etc.). Since 2012, Lehismets has worked at the Mozarteum University Salzburg as a concertmaster and vocal coach. Her concert activities have taken her to almost every European country, as well as to America, Canada, Cyprus, the Philippines and Egypt. She has performed at numerous international festivals, including Saaremaa Opera Days, Solothurn Classics, Prague Spring, Festival Internazionale di Musica Antica e Contemporanea Torino, Trieste Prima, Mezinárodní hudební festival Brno, International Music Festival Santanyí and several times at Aspekte Salzburg.