Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington DC - Past Events

Songs of love by S. Rachmaninoff - Valentine's Concert

Saturday, February 22, 2020, at 7:00pm

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Russian born soprano Olga Orlovskaya inherited her talent from her great grandfather famous Russian bas Fedor Shalyapin. She was graduated with honor from the Russian Academy of Music and attained degree Master of Arts with specialty in voice.
Olga participant and finalist of multiple national and international festivals and competition such as "Palaces of St. Petersburg", "Norway Cultural Festival", "Opera Ischia Festival", "Roma Opera Festival" and "Great Lake Chamber Music Festival" Ms. Orlovskaya was prize winner of the international competition Operetta Land for best performance of Kalman in 2008 in Moscow.
Ms. Orlovskaya is the founder and artistic director of the quartet "The Russian Sopranos".

Her career highlights includes singing the role of Katerina in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich with Novosibirsk State Opera Theater, for which she won a Golden Mask nomination. This role became signature role for Olga and she perform this role with great success with many others opera companies

Ms. Orlovskaya also had a great success with her solo concert in many European cities and capitals (Paris, Rome, Geneva, Luxemburg, Dresden, Barcelona, and Brussels)

Ms. Orlovskaya made her debut in the United States in winter 2006 with "Helicon Opera" as Adele in" Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss on the stages of 50 theaters of continental US. Ms. Orlovskaya in the season 2010-2011 has been a season opener for concert series for National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC. Starting from 2010 Olga Orlovskaya became soloist for Washington Balalaika Society – biggest and most respected in United State Russian folk instrument orchestra.
Nowadays Olga performing title roles for soprano in operas - Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, Tosca, Aida, Madame Butterfly, La Boheme (Mimi), Carmen (Micaela), Turandot (Liu)
She made her debut with Teatro Lirco D'Europa during its fall 2010-winter 2011 USA tours as Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor to outstanding critical acclaim. She performed on the stages of "Majestic Theater" (Boston, MA), "Wichita Grand Opera" (Wichita, KY), "Palm Desert McCallum Theater" (Palm Desert, CA), "Marina Civic Center" (Panama City, FL), "Barbara Mann Theater" (Ft. Myers, FL.), "The Grand 1894 Opera House" (Galveston, TX), "The Lensic, Santa Fe's Performing Art Center" (Santa Fe, NM), "Vilar Performing Arts Center" (Vail, CO), "Morah Theater" (Jacksonville, FL), "Ft. Pierce Sunrise Theater" (Ft. Pierce, FL) "The Palmetto Opera" (Columbia, SC)

Praised by critics in Europe and the United States for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United States. He is a recipient of many awards and recognitions in piano competitions in the U.S., Spain and Japan as well as recipient of the Honorary Ambassador Award in Stalowa Wola, Poland, Rina Menashe Award in Israel, Kosciuszko Foundation Scholarship, Harold Schonberg Scholarship as well as the Harold Bauer Award for the most promising pianist at the Manhattan School of Music.

Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine, with Anatoly Kardashev, before immigrating to the United States, and obtaining scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Mme Nina Svetlanova and later with Cuban-American virtuoso Horacio Gutierrez - whom he considers his greatest inspiration. Currently, he is pursuing his doctoral studies with Jose Ramos Santana in Washington DC. He has worked with such renowned artists as Dmitri Bashkirov, Lazar Berman, Isidore Cohen, Bella Davidovich, Philippe Entremont, Stephen Hough, Ruth Laredo and Earl Wild. He has also collaborated with contemporary composers such as Richard Danielpour, Jan Radzynski, Haskel Small, and Lukas Foss.

His performances have been broadcast on radio stations throughout the U.S. such as WQXR, WWFM, and WFMT in New York, WFMT in Chicago as well as classical radio stations in Poland and Lithuania. Mr. Labazevitch has been a soloist with leading orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States. As a chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Paderewski Trio, an all-Polish ensemble, which for the entirety of its existence had been coached by the late Isidore Cohen - member of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio. Paderewski Trio's debut recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall was praised by Strad Magazine as "...exuberant, multi-faceted, ...gripping from first note to last."

Highlights of the most recent seasons include performances with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Lutoslawski Chamber Orchestra and Church of St.Louis Orchestra, performances with Vilnius String Quartet and Spokane String Quartet, recital tour in Spain with Polish cellist Rafal Jezierski, performances with Dominican violinist Aisha Syed Castro in Weill Recital Hall in New York, Methuen Hall in Boston and in London UK, performance at the Tedmed conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, as well as solo recitals at the Weill Recital Hall in New York as the winner of the La Gesse Foundation auditions, and recital at the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago.

The highlights of the 2019/20 season include performances with Dominican violinist Aisha Syed Castro at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, in Chicago and Lima, Peru, recitals in Spain with Polish cellist Rafal Jezierski as well as solo recitals in Philadelphia, Miami, Washington D.C. and New York City.

In 2015, Mr. Labazevitch released his first commercial recording on Delos Music label, to very enthusiastic reviews in Poland, France, Germany and the United States. Fanfare Magazine wrote: "His way with Chopin is fluid and convincing. He plays with a superb control of rubato and has the most beautiful way of melting a phrase." The American Record Guide wrote: "Pianist Labazevitch injects more fire into the two concerto works, rushing the tempos in some passagework to build excitement; orchestra and conductor gamely, calmly follow his lead. Labazevitch is excellent." ConcertoNet wrote, "...he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin's conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein."

Since 2012 Mr Labazevitch has been sharing his passion for teaching with students at the Levine School of Music in Washington D.C.

He is the Co-Artistic Director of the Puerto Rico International Piano Festival, in San Juan as well as the Founder and the Artistic Director of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition and Chopin Piano Academy in Washington D.C.

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