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Concert – Christmas Around the World
December 3, 2023 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Suggested OfferingPlease join us at OLC for our Christmas Around the World concert. We will enjoy the most beautiful American, Italian, Polish, German, and Spanish Christmas Songs performed by Monika Krajewska, mezzo-soprano, and Natasha Ulyanovsky, piano.
Refreshments will be served following the concert.
Please bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the House of Bread in Hartford.
MONIKA KRAJEWSKA, mezzo-soprano
Praised by the New York Times for her “rich and strong tone that expresses not only beauty but a luminous sense of peace with comfort,” mezzo-soprano Monika Krajewska is an internationally renowned and exceptionally versatile performance artist.
Winner of numerous vocal competitions, including the Giuseppe Verdi Prize at the International Palm Beach Opera Competition, 1st place winner of Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, and winner Sembrich Kochanska Vocal Competition of New York, Monika has sung with opera companies, orchestras and music festivals around the world performing under the batons of renowned conductors such as Alberto Zedda, Anton Coppola, Will Crutchfield, Anton Guadagno, Craig Fleisher, and Keri-Lynn Willson.
Her signature roles include Carmen (Carmen), Cenerentola (La Cenerentola), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Charlotte (Werther), Marina (Boris Godunov), and Olga (Eugene Onegin).
She made her Carnegie Hall debut with MidAmeria Productions as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and her European debut as Carlotta in “Donizetti’s Il Borgomastro di Saardam” at Belcanto Festival (Holland). Subsequently, she was invited back to Carnegie Hall on many occasions, performing in the programs “Christmas Around the World,” “Two Nations One Love”, and the Moniuszko Bicentenary Gala at Carnegie Hall.
Her most recent performances include “The Chopin In the City” Festival in Chicago, the Bard Music Festival in New York, and the concert tour “From the Metropolitan Opera to Broadway.”
She has released CDs of “Favorite Arias and Songs,” “In Dulci Jubilo” (Christmas Songs and Lullabies), “Russian Romances and Encores,” and recently “Jewish Cantorial Music.” She is the featured artist on the recording with Strings of Lodz and Vox Singers that will be released this summer.
Educated in Europe and the United States, Ms. Krajewska holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Music degree from Yale University, and a Doctoral Degree from the Paderewski Music Academy (Poland), as well as a music diploma from the Liszt Conservatory of Music in Weimar (Germany).
Monika is an artistic director and co-founder of the Vocal Institute of Slavic Music (VISM), co-founder of Connecticut Lyric Opera, and recently a founder and host of the “Musical Discoveries” channel (a series of conversations about music with live concerts and interviews with world-class musicians and young talents). Monika was honored by the Immigrant and Refugee Coalition for her outstanding contribution to the Arts and community and was named “The Immigrant of the Year 2015.
NATASHA ULYANOVSKY, pianist
Natasha Ulyanovsky, a pianist, organist, conductor, and vocal coach, graduated from Odessa Conservatory of the former U.S.S.R. At nine, she began her illustrious career when she won the Ukrainian Young Artist Competition. She furthered her music studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Speyer Cathedral in Germany, and Queen’s College in Oxford. Before emigrating from the U.S.S.R. in 1989, she was an orchestra artist/vocal coach at Odessa Opera House and concert pianist and organist under the auspices of Moscow Soyuzconcert, the state concert management for professional musicians. In 1980, Ms. Ulyanovsky became a chief organist at Pitsunda Hall of the Republic, where she earned the title of Honored Artist in 1988 and released two records on the Melodia label. Ms. Ulyanovsky has also concertized in Hungary, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Lithuania, and New England.
Register for this concert using the form below, or call (860) 677-8519. Space is limited. Register early to avoid disappointment. Offerings will be used to defray concert expenses.