PROGRAM

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Don Giovanni and Zerlina Duet Là ci darem la mano / There I Shall Give You My Hand – from the opera Don Giovanni
The Count’s Aria Hai già vinta la causa! / You Have Already Won the Case! – from the opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759)

Cleopatra’s Aria Da tempeste / After the Storms – from the opera Giulio Cesare

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

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)

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)

Olympia’s Aria Les oiseaux dans la charmille / The Birds in the Arbour
Barcarolle Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour / Beautiful Night, O Night of Love
from the opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Georges Bizet (1838–1875)

Toreador Song Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre / Your Toast I Can Return to You – from the opera Carmen

Giuseppe Verdi

Leonora Aria Tacea la notte… Di tale amor / The Night Was Calm… Such Love
Leonora and Count di Luna Duet Udiste?… Come albeggi / Did You Hear?… How Dawn Breaks
from the opera Il trovatore (The Troubadour)

Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868)

Semiramide Aria Bel raggio lusinghier / Fair Ray of Hope – from the opera Semiramide

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)

Tosca Aria Vissi d’arte / I Lived for Art – from the opera Tosca

Franz Lehár (1870–1948)

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

MARIA VERETENINA made her debut at the Finnish National Opera in 2011 in Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov alongside the world-renowned opera singer M. Salminen. She has performed in numerous countries around the world, including Sweden, Finland, Russia, Italy, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Germany and the United Kingdom. One of her most distinguished performances was for His Royal Highness Prince Charles at Sourozh Cathedral in London (2016), as well as for Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during his official visit to the United Kingdom (2016). Veretenina began her vocal studies at the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School and completed her Master’s degree at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre under the guidance of the renowned pedagogue and opera singer Prof. J. Ryhänen (2009). She furthered her studies at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Italy (2009) and participated in masterclasses with distinguished musicians, including M. Caballé and L. Gergieva. Veretenina has won top prizes at several competitions, including the Grand Prix at the International Competition in London (Royal College of Music) in 2014. She has performed as an opera, oratorio and chamber singer in prestigious venues such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Vienna Chamber Opera, Royal Academy of Music in London, Zaragoza Concert Hall, St John’s Smith Square in London, Astrakhan Philharmonic, Estonia Concert Hall and many others. Her repertoire includes Cleopatra (Handel’s Giulio Cesare), Queen of the Night (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Fiordiligi (Mozart’s Così fan tutte), Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Olympia and Antonia (Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann), Liù (Puccini’s Turandot), Lauretta (Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi), Musetta (Puccini’s La bohème), Violetta (Verdi’s La traviata), Marfa (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride), Xenia (Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov) and Tatyana (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin). Maria Veretenina has also made numerous recordings for Estonian Radio and Television.

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 distinguished artists: F. Patanè, R. Bruson, D. Uccello, M. Formichella, G. Banditelli, G. Ravazzi, C. Rubin, H. Gjerris, N. Shetler, K. von Binzer, K. B. Møller and 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 (2015), and selection as a semi-finalist in 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 large-scale vocal-symphonic works. Chamber music holds a particularly important place in his artistic career. 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 received the Estonian Theatre Union Music Award for his powerful portrayals of Jack Rance in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West (RO Estonia) and Count Gil in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s short opera Il segreto di Susanna (Opera Veto).

PIIA PAEMURRU is one of Estonia’s most highly regarded collaborative pianists, particularly for opera singers such as V. Noreika, J. Ryhänen, M. Voites, M. Palm, P. Lill, A. Saal, R. Soom, P. Volmer, H. Lokuta, A. Mikk, K. Vähi, O. Kuusik, M. Listra, K. Puis, P. Jonas, D. Savinova, M. Veretenina, A. Pillak, T. Dede, K. Jürgens, S. Laagus, A. Soode, A. Karp, S. Breede, T. Nugis, R. Raalik, P. Balakin, R. Kull, R. Tamm and many others. Her concert career has also brought her together with distinguished instrumentalists, including P. Paemurru, M. Tampere-Bezrodny, A. Lend, A. Tammesalu and V. Veldi. Paemurru graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory with a Master’s degree in Prof. Laine Mets’ class (1999) and has worked as a vocal accompanist at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre since 1986. She has participated as a répétiteur in numerous Bavarian Opera Academy masterclasses and auditions in Germany. Paemurru has received the Special Prize for Best Accompanist at several singing competitions, including five times at the Klaudia Taev International Competition for Opera Singers. Since 2016, she has been working as a répétiteur at Vanemuine Theatre. Piia Paemurru is a scholarship recipient of Music Trust PLMF.