armidaopera.com

Igor Konyukhov, director and producer.

Igor Konyukhov

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER, LIBRETTO

Igor was born in Dagestan, Russia. He studied ballet in Moscow and in New York City at the Joffrey Ballet School. Igor holds Master's degree in Fine Arts from New York University and Master's degree in Nuclear Physics from Moscow State University.

In 2011 Igor created choreography and stage movement for the new production of Heinrich Marschner's opera DER VAMPYR. It was performed in Berlin, Germany and Szczecin, Poland. His choreography was also presented at La MaMa Moves Dance Festival (NYC) and DanceNow (NYC).

To Be Determined

Jakub Ciupinski

Composer

Jakub Ciupinski (b.1981) is Polish composer living in New York City. Although his music is often associated with electronics and interactive performances, he has written numerous pieces for traditional acoustic forces, varying in scope from solo miniatures to an hour long Oratorio for symphony orchestra and double choir.

At the age of 18, he signed a contract with Sony Music Poland and since then has been recording electronica-infused world music under the stage name Jakub ?ak. The release of his third studio album is scheduled for 2011.

Jakub Ciupinski's concert music has been commissioned by various institutions and ensembles including Metropolis Ensemble, The New Juilliard Ensemble, The New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, as well as the world-famous violinists Anne Akiko-Meyers and Philippe Quint. His works have been performed around the world, including prestigious venues such as Tonhalle in Zurich and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Ciupinski is a co-founder of Blind Ear Music, New York based group of composers and instrumentalists performing improvised, real-time compositions, using wirelessly connected laptops as musical score displays. He has also designed his own instrument for performing electronic music using hand gestures. He has collaborated with a variety of artists, musicians, choreographers and film directors, including oscar winning director Andrzej Wajda, and scored the music for United Nations documentary "Opening Doors".

Ciupinski studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Christopher Rouse at The Juilliard School, Zbigniew Bujarski and Krzysztof Penderecki at the Cracow Academy of Music, and with Edwin Roxbrough and Joe Cutler at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

To Be Determined

Kimberly Giannelli

Co-producer, PR

To Be Determined

Emanuele Cesare

Actor, Italian language consultant

To Be Determined

Kelvin Chan

Nerio, BARITONE

Kelvin Chan is a versatile performer of the operatic, concert, and recital repertoire. Recent operatic engagements include the Imperial Commissioner and Yamadori in Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Madama Butterfly and with Houston Grand Opera, where he created the role of Goong-Goong in the HGOCo production of Courtside by Jack Perla. Mr. Chan has appeared with Cincinnati Opera, where he performed the role of Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, creating the role of Shi-Yin in RedDust, an opera electronica by Mathew Rosenblum. Other roles include Harlekin, Schaunaurd, and Valmont in Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons. He performed the role of Remendado in Carmen with 2005 Regional Theatre Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis, MN, and reprised that role with the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA.

On the concert stage, Kelvin has performed as a soloist in Bach's Cantata 56 and 82 and St. Matthew Passion, Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, Duruflé's Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Haydn's Harmoniemesse and Lord Nelson Mass, and Mozart's Requiem. For five years, he performed with the all-male chamber vocal ensemble, Cantus, and served as that ensemble's Artistic Co-Director. With Cantus, he performed concerts and conducted workshops throughout North America and Europe. He recorded five albums with that ensemble and his recording of Charles Villiers Stanford's Songs of the Sea appears on Cantus's 2006 album, There Lies the Home.

A graduate of Carleton College, with a B.A. in geology, Kelvin is a candidate in the Doctoral of Musical Arts program in voice performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he also completed his Master of Music.

To Be Determined

Hayden DeWitt

Adelia, Mezzo-Soprano

Hayden DeWitt has performed many of the favorite roles in the lyric mezzo-soprano repertoire including: Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, The Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Aminta in Il Re Pastore, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Niklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, among others.

A huge fan of indie projects like Igor's compelling Armida, Hayden is not a new-comer to the world of pastiche opera. She is a member of Opera Feroce, a nouveau-baroque ensemble with whom she created and frequently performs the rollicking pasticcio Amor & Psyche, a re-telling of the classic Roman myth set to the music of thirteen baroque masters. (She sings the role of Amor.) Other, less usual, forays onto the stage include the role of The Drummer in Viktor Ullmann's World War II masterpiece Der Kaiser von Atlantis with New York's Opera Gaya, the alto solos in Beethoven's Mass in C at Carnegie Hall, the role of Endimione in Brooklyn-based Vertical Player Repertory's critically acclaimed site-specific La Calisto (Cavalli) and the role of Cherubino in the North American premiere of the recently unearthed bel canto gem I Due Figaro (Mercadante) with Amore Opera. In June of this year, she will sing the title role in Opera Feroce's new opus Arminio in Armenia, a not very seria opera seria with an original (as in made up) plot set to the fabulous and inspired music of the baroque master Nicola Porpora.

To Be Determined

Julia Lima

Armida, Soprano

Julia is a graduate of the State Musical College named after Gnessins (Russia, Moscow). She is also a master of sports in gymnastics.

Julia was awarded the 1st prize of the NY district Metropolitan National Council 2011, International Awards included: regional competition of young talents of Gazprom Company (the Grand Prix), international competition "Bella voce" (the 1st prize), all-Russian competition "Festos" (the 1st prize),"International Festival of Arts in Yalta " (the 1st prize). In Russia Julia has also been seen as a successful actress, appeared in several TV programs and numeous TV shows.

Julia made her american debut with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre in the role of Madame Goldentrill. She has appeared as Susanna in an american premiere of "I due Figaro" by S.Mercadante with Amore Opera. In this project Julia sings the tiltle role of Armida.

To Be Determined

Kirk Dougherty

Almiro, Tenore

Kirk Dougherty sings in concert and opera throughout the US, including recent performances with Greenwich Choral Society, Opera Saratoga, Bronx Opera, Opéra Louisiane, and Missouri Civic Orchestra, among others. At Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, NY, he is a recipient of the Carlotta Savoca Memorial Award and recently sang the roles of Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) as a guest artist. He was previously a festival artist at Utah Festival Opera and an apprentice artist at Central City Opera. Originally from Sleepy Hollow, NY, he received the Master of Music degree from Eastman School of Music.

www.kirkdougherty.com

Jakob Ciupinski

Fabiola Ledesma

Stylist, Wardrobe

To Be Determined

Jean-Rene Homehr

Dancer

Jean-René Homehr was born in France where he began his dance training. Before coming to New York to the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, he attended the two years program of the Rudra Béjart's School in Lausanne (Switzerland). Through that program he performed in many venues in works by Maurice Béjart throughout Europe and in Japan. Since September 2007, he has been enrolled with a full scholarship at the Martha Graham School and as a member of GRAHAM II. Upon graduation he received his certificate of recognition as a teacher of the Martha Graham Technique. As a teacher Mr. Homehr participated in the reconstruction of "Panorama" for the Spring/Summer Season 2010 of the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Joyce Theater in NYC, teaching for the Martha Graham School Young Artist Program (YAP) Dancers, the Talent Unlimited (TU) High School Dancers and the All-City Kids Dancers. He is Currently a substitute teacher at the Martha Graham School for the YAP and TU programs and also teaches for the Movement Workshop Group Dance Collective. Since in New York as a dancer Jean-rené performed in works by choreographers like Martha Graham, Robert Battle, Kate St Amand and Virginie Mécène, among others with companies as Graham II, SYREN Modern Dance and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Since August 2009 he is a member of SYREN Modern Dance and is also working with NIMBUS Dance Works, Nejla Yatkin/NY2 Dance and Michael Mao Dance.

To Be Determined

Pralaya Cuomo

Dancer

Pralaya Cuomo began her training at the age of 11 with Kat Wildish and Finis Jhung In NYC Before attending School of American Ballet when she turned 14. Receiving a full scholarship there as well as with the Joffery Ballet School, Studio Maestro, The School at Steps with Leslie Browne, Ballet Academy East, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. In 2003 she participated in Youth America Grande Prix competition and was a NYC finalist. She has performed with Connecticut Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, and Kate Thomas Ballet.

To Be Determined

Joan Plana

Violinist

Joan Plana alternates his career between modern and baroque violin. He is the recipient of several prizes and awards having played concerts around Europe and North America. Founding member of CONCITATO and finalist of the 2009 York International Early Music Competition, he is a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. He is the leader and soloist of the American Baroque Orchestra and L'Academie Baroque Orchestra in Boston, as well as playing with other early music groups such as Baroque Band (Chicago), Apollo's Fire (Cleveland) and American Classical Orchestra (New York). Born in Lleida (Spain), he holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya (Barcelona). His principal teachers include Paul Kantor, Kai Gleusteen and the Ysaye Quartet. Joan resides in New York, where he obtained a Graduate Diploma from The Juilliard School's Historical Performance Program, studying with Monica Huggett and Cynthia Roberts. He is pursuing a Doctorate in baroque violin at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

To Be Determined

Jeffrey Grossman

Harpsichordist

Jeffrey Grossman's extensive musical activities include continual performances as a harpsichordist, pianist, and conductor. Acclaimed for his musicality in every style, he has been praised as a "sensitive and fluent accompanist" of "flair and conviction" in Fanfare magazine. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Harvard College, where he sang with the Glee Club and conducted the Chamber Singers, and a Master of Music degree in conducting from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with conductor Robert Page. In Fall 2009, he began studies in historical performance at The Juilliard School. In addition to performing with Concitato, Jeffrey co-founded and serves as artistic director of the Cambridge Early Music Project and is the founding harpsichordist of New York early music ensemble Callisto Ascending. Last season, Jeffrey released three compact discs he recorded with various collaborators on the Albany and Naxos record labels. He currently resides in New York City.

To Be Determined

Ezra Selzer

Cellist

Hailed for his "beauty of tone and keenness of musicianship" (Opera Brittannia), cellist Ezra Seltzer recently graduated from The Juilliard School in the inaugural class of the historical performance program. He maintains an avid interest in both contemporary and early music, and has performed as a chamber musician at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival and the Banff, Norfolk, and Aspen Music Festivals. As a baroque cellist, he frequently performs at Trinity Wall Street in the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and recently appeared in concert with violinist Mark Steinberg at the Helicon Foundation. Mr. Seltzer attended Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in history and Master of Music in cello performance, studying with Aldo Parisot and Ole Akahoshi. At Yale, he was also a post-graduate fellow in early music as a student of Robert Mealy and a member of the Yale Baroque Ensemble.

To Be Determined