PROGRAM

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)

Brindisi / Drinking Song – from the opera La traviata

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

The Countess’ Aria Porgi, amor / God of Love, Return Him to Me
The Countess and Susanna Duet Sull’aria / On the Wings of the Gentle Breeze
from the opera Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)

Lauretta Aria O mio babbino caro / Oh, My Dear Father – from the opera Gianni Schicchi

Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848)

Adina and Nemorino Duet Caro elisir / Dear Elixir of Love!
Scene and Duet Lallarallà…
from the opera L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love)

Georges Bizet (1838–1875)

Carmen’s Habanera – from the opera Carmen

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)

Giulietta and Nicklausse Duet Belle nuit / Beautiful Night – from the opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)

Édouard Lalo (1823–1892)

Le roi d’Ys (The King of Ys)

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)

Rusalka’s Song to the Moon Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém / Moon, High in the Deep Sky – from the opera Rusalka

Franz Lehár (1870–1948)

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

Imre Kálmán (1882–1953)

Ninon’s Song Carrambolina, Carramboletta – from the operetta Das Veilchen vom Montmartre (The Violet of Montmartre)

Franz Lehár

Paganini Aria Gern hab’ ich die Frau’n geküsst / I Gladly Kiss the Ladies – from the operetta Paganini

Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)

Gabrielle and the Count Duet Grüß dich Gott, du liebes Nesterl / Greetings to You, Dear Little Nest
The Countess’ Aria O säume nicht, mein lieber Herr / My Dear Husband Does Not Know That I Am Arriving Now…
The Countess and the Count Duet Wiener Blut / Viennese Blood
from the operetta Wiener Blut (Viennese Blood)

Rudolf Sieczyński (1879–1952)

Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume / Vienna, City of My Dreams

KRISTINA VÄHI has received recognition as an opera, operetta and musical theatre soloist. She graduated from the Georg Ots Tallinn Music School (teacher M. Jõgeva) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, where she obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Opera Singing (studying with R. Airenne and Prof. T. Novitšenko). Vähi has furthered her studies at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and participated in numerous masterclasses (E. Märtson, G. Kahry, C. Deutekom, R. Piernay, I. Kremling, J. Beckman, M. Pelo, M. Hauswalter). Vähi won First Prize at the Klaudia Taev International Competition for Young Singers (1996). From 2006–2013, Vähi worked as a soloist at the Estonian National Opera. She has also performed in productions of Vanemuine Theatre and the EMTA Opera Studio, at Saaremaa Opera Days, and has been invited to sing at various festivals and in musicals produced by Smithbridge Productions and Vanemuine Theatre. Since 1997, she has been a soloist of the creative association Operetta Scretta. Her roles include Adina (Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore), Baroness (Lortzing’s Der Wildschütz), Ännchen (Weber’s Der Freischütz), Oscar (Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera), and Mozart roles such as Zerlina, First Lady and Despina (Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte); Menotti roles Lucy, Monica and Miss Pinkerton (The Telephone, The Medium, The Old Maid and the Thief); Rossini roles Fanny and Clorinda (La cambiale di matrimonio, La Cenerentola); Nedda (Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci), Ninetta (Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges), Luise (Aints’ Rehepapp), Adele and Gagliari (Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Wiener Blut), Lisa and Stasi (Kálmán’s Gräfin Mariza, Die Csárdásfürstin), Damon (Handel’s Acis and Galatea), Maria (Leigh’s Man of La Mancha), Soulgirl and Carlotta (Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera) and many others. Currently, Vähi works as a freelance opera soloist. Kristina Vähi is a scholarship recipient of Music Trust PLMF.

KARMEN PUIS graduated from the Heino Eller Music School (teacher A. Kõiv) and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (teacher T. Levald), where she also obtained her Master’s degree (2005, cum laude, Prof. J. Ryhänen). Since 1997, Puis has been an opera and operetta soloist at Vanemuine Theatre. She has worked as a choir singer and soloist with the Estonian Radio Choir. Puis has performed solo parts in numerous large-scale works and has given solo concerts in several Estonian cities in collaboration with pianist J. Rand-Sirp. She has a long-standing collaboration with organist A. Humala, with whom she has performed in various churches across Estonia, especially Tartu St. Paul’s Church. At Vanemuine Theatre, Puis has created more than 60 stage roles, including Donna Elvira, Dorabella and Countess Almaviva (Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro), Brangäne (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde), Concepcion (Ravel’s L’heure espagnole), Galatea (Handel’s Acis and Galatea), Solveig/Anitra (Grieg’s Peer Gynt), Elisabetta (Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda), Tatiana (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin), Charlotte (Massenet’s Werther), Catharina Vycken (Tubin’s The Parson of Reigi), Liina (Aints’ Rehepapp), Hanna Glawari (Lehár’s The Merry Widow), Countess Zedlau (Strauss’ Wiener Blut), Hodel (Bock’s Fiddler on the Roof), Abbess (Rodgers/Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music) and many others. She has received the Wagner Society Scholarship (2006), Vanemuine Theatre Music Award (2007), Georg Ots Prize (2010), Vanemuine of the Year Award (2011) and the Estonian Theatre Union Annual Award (2012, in the music theatre category). Since 2004, Karmen Puis has been a vocal teacher at the Heino Eller Music School.

FILIPP VARIK graduated in vocal performance from Tallinn Music High School under the guidance of U. Joller (2018) and obtained his Master’s degree at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (2023) under J. Tralla. He has furthered his studies with M. Hauswalter. Currently, Varik works at the Lyon National Opera Studio. In addition to classical singing, he has studied choral conducting under H. Surva. Varik has collaborated with renowned conductors such as D. Rustioni, G. Sacripanti, W. Marshall and V. Pähn, as well as directors including C. Loy, L. Pelly, R. Brunel and L. Kolle. Varik has sung in operas including Akhnaten (Philip Glass), Abstrakte Oper (Boris Blacher), Wozzeck (Alban Berg), Il turco in Italia (Gioachino Rossini), Andrea Chénier (Umberto Giordano), Peter Grimes (Benjamin Britten) and Louise (Gustave Charpentier).

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.