Elena Bakanova
Soprano
Elena Bakanova began studying singing at a very young age, training at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan where she obtained the Diploma of Singing and the II Level Academic Diploma with full marks and honors, perfecting later with Mirella Freni, Carlo Bergonzi and with Renata Scotto at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome with scholarship award. Finalist at the Competition of the Teatro alla Scala Academy in Milan in 2000, she was invited to a tour in South Africa where she made her debut with Maestro Umberto Finazzi at the Opera Huose in Cape Town; in 2004 he was a Finalist with Eligibility for the roles at the XXVII As.Li.Co Competition after which he made his debut in “Don’s Elixir of Love” at the Teatro Sociale in Como.
In 2006 she was the winner of the audition organized by the Opera National du Rhin de Strasbourg followed by her debut at the Theater National de l’Opera de Strasbourg, highlighting the attention of critics and the public, leading her to carry out a brilliant international artistic activity in Italy , France Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Austria, Malta, Portugal, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg, Norway, Ireland, Canada, Argentina, China and South Africa. He has played leading roles at prestigious institutions and theaters including the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, Teatro Sociale di Como, Teatro G. Donizetti in Bergamo, Teatro G. Verdi in Florence , Romolo Valli Theater of Reggio Emilia, Municipal Theater of Piacenza, A. Ponchielli Theater of Cremona, Grande Theater of Brescia, Fraschini Theater of Pavia, Donizetti Theater of Bergamo, Ariston Theater of Sanremo, G. Verdi Theater of Busseto, Ancient Theater of Taormina, G. Rossini Theater of Lugo, Bibiena Theater of Mantua, Rovigo Municipal Theater, G. Verdi Theater of Pisa, Splendor Theater of Aosta, Social Theater of Trento, as well as the theaters of the Opéra National de Lyon, Bilbao Opera ( Opera ABAO), Murcia Theater, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur, Thèatr du Mulhouse, Coliseo Theater of Buenos Aires, National Theater of Hermitage in St. Petersburg, National Opera Theater of Namibia, Opera National Windhoek Theater, Theater Royal of Wexford Opera Festival, National Opera Theater of Komi Republic, National Macedonian Opera and Ballet, Flensburg Stadttheater, Opera Obliqua Theater in Stand de Moutier, The Royal Danish Opera of Denmark, Tianjin Grand Theater (Beijing), Harbin Grand Theater.
Among the most significant roles played by her are Adina in “L’Elisir d’amore, Norina in” Don Pasquale “, Ines in” La Favorite “(in the original language), and Rita by G. Donizetti, Rosina in” Il Barber of Seville “, The Countess of Folleville in” The Journey to Reims “, Guild in” Rigoletto “, Violetta in” La Traviata “, Nannetta in” Falstaff “, Oscar in” A masked ball “, the Lady of Lady Macbeth in G. Verdi’s “Macbeth”, Fanni in G. Rossini’s “The wedding bill”, The Countess in “The Marriage of Figaro”, Despina in “Cosi fan tutte”, Madama Silberklang in “Der Schauspieldirektor”, Pamina in WA Die Zauberflöte Mozart, Eurydice and Music in C. Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo”, Aspasia in G. Paisiello’s “The games of Agrigento”, Merlina in D. Cimarosa’s “The impresario in Angustie”, Leena in “La Belle Hélène” “By J. Offenbach,” Iolanta “by PITchajkovskij, Liusia in the” Moskva Cheremushki “by D. Šostakovič, Gretel in” Hänsel und Gretel “by E.Humperdinck, Mimì in” La Bohème “by G. Puccini, The Blue Fairy in “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” by O. Respighi.
He has collaborated with important directors such as Daniele Abbado, Davide Livermore, Walter Pagliaro, Jerom Deschamps, Rosetta Cucchi, Dario Argento, Enrico Stinchelli, and conductors including Maurizio Benini, Kazushi Ono, Michel Plasson, Donato Renzetti, Gianandrea Noseda, Paolo Arrivabeni, Alexander Lazarev, Arnold Östman alongside internationally renowned artists such as Sumi Jo, Giovanna Casolla, Svetla Vassileva, Desiree Rancatore, Gemma Bertagnolli, Sonia Ganassi, Sergio Bologna, Giuseppe Filianotti, Marckus Werba, Ildar Abdrazakov, Luca Salsi.
The ductility of her voice together with an extensive expressiveness and experience in the multiple aspects of vocal music allowed her to range in the various repertoires also from the chamber up to the twentieth century singing in German, Russian, French, Italian and English with the execution of liederistic cycles by WA Mozart, F.J. Haydn, L. van Beethoven F. Schubert, R. Schumann, J. Brahms, G. Mahler, G. Fauré, C. Debussy, R.Hahn, F.Poulenc, P.I.Tchajkovskij, E.Grieg, B.Britten. The partnership with artists such as Bruno Canino, Renad Capuçon and Francesco Manara (Primo Violin of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan) is particularly intense with whom he has collaborated in numerous concerts at seasons and festivals such as the Musical Evenings in Milan, the GOG Season in Genoa, 77th Chigiana Summer of Siena, Circolo dei Litori of Turin, Friends of the Music of Gressoney, XXV Festival Internacional de Musica de Gaia, Winter Reise Festival of Moscow, XIX International Festival of Colmar, XV edition of the ContempoartFestival in Florence, Fundaciòn Andrés Segovia of Linares, Goethe Insitut at Palazzo Albrizzi in Venice, Mezinàrodni hidebni Festival in Prague, Grieg Festival in Bergen, Ost-West Musikfest in Vienna, MITO Settembre Musica Festival.
The symphonic repertoire plays a significant role in which the IX symphony of L.van Beethoven, the IV symphony of G. Mahler, the Lobgesang Symphony op.52 of F. Mendelshonn, the Carmina Burana of C. Orff, Ein Sommernachtstraum op. 61 by Felix Mendelssohn, next to the sacred repertoire with A. Scarlatti’s Dixit Dominus, Antonio Lotti’s Missa Sapientiae, L. Janacek’s Glagolitische Messe, JS Bach’s Great Mass in B minor, GBPergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Gloria by A. Vivaldi, Petite Messe Solemnelle by G. Rossini, Die Schopfung by FJ Haydn la Krönungsmesse in C major K 317, Requiem by WA Mozart, Ein Deutsches Requiem op. 45 by J.Brahms, performed with prestigious orchestras such as the Philharmonic Arturo Toscanini of Parma, ORT Regional Orchestra of Tuscany, Oxford Philomusica Orchestra, ORER Regional Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna, Orchestra of Europe (members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra of Claudio Abbado), Sinfonieorchester Basel, Anima Antica Orchestra of Bologna, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Akademie Orchestra, Symphonique du Jura Orchestras, Symphony Orchestra of Savona, Orchestra of the Accademia Stefano Tempia in Turin, I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan. He has made recordings for Amadeus, Fonè, Bongiovanni and his performances have been broadcast by RAI Radio3 also in live radio as in the first absolute performance of the Monodrama “Else” by Alberto Colla in which he was the protagonist at the “G. Verdi” Theater in Florence. She has been invited to lecture at the University of Udine, the Polytechnic of Turin and to perform numerous master classes at the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Bologna for CIDIM, at the Accademia Chigiana of Siena as Assistant and Soprano Master in residence, at the North East University of Shenyang in China and at the L. Cherubini Conservatory in Florence.