Soprano OLGA CHERNISHEVA: TURANDOT

Described by critics as possessing 'a pure, strong soprano with phrasing of sumptuous elegance' (San Francisco Chronicle) and 'a lyric voice focused and alluring... subtly expressive' (Opera News), Olga Chernisheva is one of most interesting and distinctive young singing actresses to emerge on the American scene during the past few years.

A native of Russia, Ms. Chernisheva appeared on the stages of the Bolshoi Opera (Maria in Mazeppa, Prilepa in Pique Dame, Brigittain Iolanta, Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress, Musettain La Boheme, to name a few), Kazan Opera Theater (Mimi in La Boheme), Stanislavsky Opera Theater (Micaela in Carmen), and MŠlmo Opera Theater in Sweden (Musetta) before emigrating to the U.S.A., where she has appeared with West Bay Opera in the title role of Manon Lescaut, Illinois Opera Theater as Tosca, and with Cedar Rapids Opera and Gold Coast Opera as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly.

She has appeared on the concert stages of Opera Santa Barbara in an evening of music by Giocomo Puccini, DiCapo Opera (Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini), in Russia at the Nizhny Novgorod Concert Hall for Bach'sMass in B-minor, at the Grand Hallof the Moscow State Conservatory for Mahler's Sympony No. 4 and for Orff's Carmina Burana, Moscow's Cathedral Catholic Church for Bach's Easter Oratorio, as a featured soloist for both the Notti Musicali Modenesi Festival and Costa Rica's XIII Festival de Musica Credomatic; and as a featured soloist for the political-cultural event entitled 'Days of Russian Culture in Bulgaria, jointly sponsored by the Russian and Bulgarian Ministries of Culture and attended by the presidents of both countries.

In 1996, Ms. Chernishevawon first prize in the Moscow's 'Bella Voce Vocal Competition' and, in 1999, won their grand prize. In 2000, she received a special award at the International Bulbul Vocal Competition in Baku, and an award at the Moscow art festival Festos. In 2002, she participated in San Francisco Opera Center Merola Opera Program for young singers and sang Musetta with Western Opera on tour.

Olga Chernisheva studied at Moscow's Gnessin Music College from 1992 until 1996, and at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory from 1996 until 2002. In addition to her vocal studies, Olga has studied piano, dance, figure skating, and acting.

Miss Chernisheva made her debut with Teatro Lirico on its winter 2005 US tour as Mimi in La Boheme. She performs MADAMA BUTTERFLY and Princess TURANDOT with Teatro Lirico on its 2006-2007 season.

American soprano Victoria Litherland has been on the Metropolitan Opera roster for the past several seasons, most recently as Nedda in PAGLIACCI and Musetta in LA BOHEME.  Her Met radio broadcast debut came in 1995 as Musetta.  While at the Met, she has performed under the batons of conductors such as James Levine, Carlo Rizzi, Daniel Oren and Dennis Russell Davies.  She returns to the Met in the fall of 2005 where she will be responsible for the role of Alice in FALSTAFF, followed by performances of TOSCA with Opera Pacific.  In the spring of 2005 she sang the world premiere of Jake Heggie's revised THE END OF THE AFFAIR for Madison Opera.  Last season she also made her Seattle Opera debut as MANON LESCAUT and joined the roster of La Scala where she covered Senta in DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER. 

The title role of TOSCA has become her signature role.  She has performed it with Arizona Opera, Cleveland Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera and Austin Lyric Opera.  Ms. Litherland has sung AÏDA with Fort Worth Opera and Intermountain Opera and IL TROVATORE with Tulsa Opera.  On the concert stage she made her Carnegie Hall debut singing the BRAHMS REQUIEM and has also been in BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONY NO.9 with Las Cruces Symphony and MENDELSSOHN'S SYMPHONY NO.2 with Springfield Symphony.  She sang Glass's THE VOYAGE in Carnegie Hall with Dennis Russell Davies and was also heard in an all-Verdi concert for Sarasota Opera in arias from AÏDA, LA FORZA DEL DESTINO and UN BALLO IN MASCHERA.  Ms. Litherland made her debut with Teatro Lirico D'Europa as TOSCA on its winter 2004 U.S. tour. 

Bulgarian tenor Roumen Doikov, who was a prizewinner in the 1983 "Paulo Negli" opera competition in Enna, Sicily, is a principal soloist with The Sofia National Opera where he has performed along side such artists as Ghena Dimitrova, Raina Kabaivanska, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Anna Tomova-Sintova and Nicolai Ghiuselev.  He has performed as a guest artist with opera companies in both Eastern and Western Europe, Brazil and the U.S. and has enjoyed a huge success on tour in the U.S. with Teatro Lirico in the difficult roles of Calaf in TURANDOT, the Duke in RIGOLETTO and Manrico in IL TROVATORE.

Russian soprano Elena Razgulyieva is a principal soloist of Opera Rostovna Dom, Russia, where she performs leading soprano roles in the Lyric and Sprinto fach.  She made he U.S. debut last winter with Teatro Lirico D'Europa as Mimi in LA BOHEME to outstanding critical acclaim and returns to the US this season with Teatro Lirico D'Europa as Mimi in LA BOHEME, Micaela in CARMEN, Cio-Cio-San in MADAMA BUTTERFLY and Liu in TURANDOT.

Russian bass Mikhail Kolelishvili is a member of the Kirov Opera. He was born in Moscow on 22 February, 1974, and graduated from the V. Saradzhishvili State Conservatory, Tbilisi, Georgia with a master's degree in vocal performance.  In 1997 he became a soloist at the Tbilisi State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.  Two years later he was a Laureate of the Republic Vocal Competition "Georgia-Tbilisi" and the next year he joined the Young Opera Singers' Academy of the Mariinski Theater.  He won first prize at the Rimski-Korsakov Fifth International Competition for Young Opera Singers in 2002 and was a top prize winner in the Third International E. Obraztsova Competition for Young Opera Singers in 2003.  In 2004, he won the Monyushko Competition in Warsaw, Poland, as well as the Adamo Didur Prize for Bass.  The following year he was a finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in the United Kingdom.  His repertoire includes all the bass roles in the Mozart and Verdi operas as well as Khan Koncha in Borodin's PRINCE IGOR, King Rene in Tchaikovsky's IOLANTA and the Tsar in Rimski-Korsakov's THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN.  He is making his American debut with Teatro Lirico D'Europa and Mozart Festival Opera on their 2006-2007 US tours. 

Mr. Sarafov has been active on the stage for his entire adult life as a soloist in operetta, opera and as an actor.  The talented baritone graduated from the National Academy of Music in Sofia and was immediately engaged by the Sofia National Opera for the role of Bartolo in Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA.  He has performed for many years with the Sofia National Opera and has staged hundreds of performances for Opera Internationale. 

Bulgarian tenor Orlin Goranov, who was born in 1957, is currently a soloist with The Plovdiv State Opera.  His repertoire includes: Alfredo in LA TRAVIATA, Ismael in NABUCCO, Cassio in OTELLO, the title role in DON CARLOS, the Duke in RIGOLETTO, Rodolfo in LA BOHEME, Pinkerton in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Cavaradossi in TOSCA, Arlecchino in PAGLIACCI, Remendado in CARMEN, Vladimir in PRINCE IGOR and many other roles.  He was a 1981 Laureate at The Dresden Festival.  He has also won second prize at The Bratislava Lyre Festival in 1982, third prize at The Prague Intertalent Festival in 1983, and first prize at The Golden Orpheus Festival, Bulgaria, in 1984.  He participated in The Gala '85 Pop festival in Havana, Cuba, and in 1999, he won the special prize as well as the first prize at The Golden Orpheus Festival in Bulgaria. 

Born in Varna, the Bulgarian tenor began his career as a soloist with Opera Varna, Bulgaria.  He has performed as a guest artist with opera companies throughout Europe and has been performing with Teatro Lirico D'Europa in Europe and the US for over seven years. 

Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Hristov has been a soloist with State Opera of Plevin for many years and has been a guest soloist with Teatro Lirico D'Europa on tour since the company was founded in 1988. 

Bulgarian tenor Yuri Nikolov is a graduate of the Musical Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. He has performed as a soloist with Opera Varna, Bulgaria, and has worked with Teatro Lirico since 2002. 

Bulgarian tenor Georgi Dinev was born in 1972 in Yambol, Bulgaria.  He was educated at the actor's academy in NATFIZ.  From 1995-2000 he was a soloist at the Musical Theatre "St.Makedonski" in Sofia, Bulgaria.  From 2003 until the present he has been a soloist at The Stara Zagora Opera. 

The young Bulgarian maestro who completed his musical education in Vienna, Austria, is the principal conductor for Teatro Lirico D'Europa.  In addition to conducting hundreds of performances for Teatro Lirico on tour in central Europe and the US, he is a guest conductor with the many state opera companies in Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries. 

Co Founder of Teatro Lirico D'Europa and current General Manager/Artistic Director, Gueorgui Lalov (Giorgio) was born in Telesh, Bulgaria, in June, 1958.  His father, "Lalo", a doctor, and his mother, Stoiyanka, an elementary school teacher and Bulgarian folk singer, were educated patrons of the arts.  When Lalo Lalov died, Giorgio was only nine years old, but because he was an excellent student, he had the good fortune to be accepted at an elite boarding school in the capital city of Bulgaria where all the lessons were taught in French.  When he graduated from high school in 1976, he was fluent in French and English.  That fall he entered the Bulgarian National Academy of Music and went on tour throughout Italy with a choir from the University.  While in Milan, he auditioned for the famous International School for Young Opera Singers at La Scala.  He was accepted, and went on to make his operatic debut at La Scala at the age of 25.  After living in Italy for a short time, Lalov became fluent in Italian.  In 1986, while on tour with an opera company in France, he met his future business partner, Yves Josse, a former ballet dancer who was booking opera and ballet tours.  The two hit it off.  Giorgio had many resources.  He spoke several languages, he was able to organize the creation of sets and costumes in Bulgaria and he put together an excellent orchestra and chorus.  He also knew many fine opera singers in Bulgaria, Central Europe, and the USA.  By 1988, Josse and Lalov were collaborating on what was to become the most successful opera touring company in Europe.  At the time of Josse's death in 1995, Teatro Lirico was presenting over 250 performances a season throughout Europe.  In 1990, Lalov established the Sofia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.  Since that time, it has been the exclusive orchestra and chorus for Teatro Lirico D'Europa's productions worldwide.  Winter 2000 marked Teatro's first major American tour.  The rest is history.  The reviews from the nine tours Teatro Lirico D'Europa has completed thus far in the US speak for the high quality and consistency of the company.  The fact that the company is able to tour with many different productions within one tour is an indication of the Mr. Lalov’s very hard work, excellent organizational skills and unfailing dedication to the art of opera. 

"I'm not alone in hoping that Giorgio Lalov, the talented opera singer turned creator of Teatro Lirico D'Europa stays happy and healthy and continues to bring us such magnificent productions.  We can only hope to see more from this company in years to come." -- Illinois Times, Ann Kerr

 Teatro Lirico D'Europa, the European opera touring company formed in 1988 by Giorgio Lalov, a former Bulgarian opera singer, has completed over 3,000 performances worldwide and 10 US tours. The popular company embarks on its 11th American tour in the winter of 2007 with 60 performances of several different full-scale operas, including a traditional version of Puccini's final masterpiece, TURANDOT. This will be the 3rd US tour during which Teatro Lirico D'Europa has presented TURANDOT, but this year all the costumes and the sets for this lavish production will be completely new. The tour will travel to the most outstanding venues across the U.S. Soloists for its productions will come from the Bolshoi Opera, The Prague State Opera, The Kirov Opera, The Sofia National Opera, the New York City Opera and The Metropolitan Opera. Teatro Lirico holds the distinction of being the only European opera touring company in history to have its own season of opera in a US city with its own subscription series. The popular company has produced over 15 full-scale operas at the historic Majestic Theatre in Boston since winter 2000 and now presents 10 - 12 performances per season there, many of them sold out. Visit our website for an in-depth history of Teatro Lirico D'Europa including hundreds of U.S. reviews, video clips, and large photo gallery - www.jennykellyproductions.com