Sylvia Vadimova
Mezzosoprano
Singer and pianist Sylvia Vadimova entered the music profession at the age of seven. She graduated with honours in composition at the New England Conservatory of Boston in 1987, and went on to study voice at the Conservatorio “A Casella” de L’Aquila (Italy), graduating with honours in 1992. In 1994, she won first prize at the International Singing Competition of Toulouse, after having been a finalist in other prestigious competitions.
She has been living in France since 1993, and performs in operas and concerts all over the world (France, Italy, Germany, Egypt, Japan, Russia, and Brazil).
Sylvia Vadimova’s vocal agility and mastery of five languages gives her the freedom to tackle both the classical and contemporary repertoire.
Her operatic roles include Ottavia and Fortuna in L’Incoronazione di Poppea conducted by Marc Minkowski at the Festival Lyrique International d’Aix-en-Provence, Messaggiera, Proserpina and Speranza in Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Damira in Vivaldi’s La verità in cimento with the ARCAL opera company, The Composer in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Carmen in Carmen in Macerata (Italy) in a partly staged production, Amneris in Aïda at the Cairo Opera, Maddalena in Rigoletto and Azucena in Trovatore in Rome, Mrs Quickly in Falstaff, Casilda in Filippo Marchetti’s Ruy Blas (first performance since 1789), Zita in Gianni Schicchi, notably at the Festival Pucciniano di Torre del Lago, Frugola in Il Tabarro, Der Trommler in Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann, Brünhilde in Strauss’ operetta Die lustigen Nibelungen, the Dog, the Woodpecker, the Innkeeper… in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen…
She has performed chamber and symphonic works as well as recitals of Songs and Lieder.
Highlights in her repertoire are Bach Cantatas at the “Renzo Piano” Auditorium in Rome with the CIMA Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s Lieder cycles such as the Kindertoten Lieder, Der Knaben Wunderhorn, and Das Lied von der Erde, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, The Nursery…
She sang with renowned orchestras and ensembles. (Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Lyon National Orchestra, Nice Philharmonic Orchestra…)
Within the 20th century and contemporary repertoire, Sylvia Vadimova interpreted several master pieces such as Tempo e tempi by Elliott Carter, La Vie en Rouge by E. Denisov, Stripsody by Cathy Berberian, Luciano Berio’s Folksongs, Respighi’s The Sunset, Schoenberg’s Das Lied der Waldtaube and Pierrot Lunaire… as well as several world premieres such as the roles of The Editor in Bruno Mantovani’s opera The Other Side, Leila in the opera Les Sacrifiées by Thierry Pécou and Leila Smith in Régis Campo’s comic opera Four Twins, Yves Prin’s Song cycles De Amor Desesperado and Abismos, Bernard Cavanna’s Four atonal melodies, Laurent Cuniot’s Verrà la morte, the one-act opera for mezzo-soprano Des Pétales dans la Bouche, Spring and all and Ihm eine Hymne, Bruno Mantovani’s La morte meditata, Luis Naon’s 3NYBlues, the melodies cycle Cannibal Recipes for voice and piano by Vincent Bouchot… Many of these works were specifically written for her.
Sylvia Vadimova sang in several renowned festivals such as the Saarbruck Contemporay Festival, Radio France’s Présence Festival, IRCAM’s Agora Festival, the Musica Festival (Strasburg),the Festival junger Künstler Bayreuth, the Aix-en-Provence International Festival, the Berlioz Festival, the Torre del Lago Puccini Festival… and has taken part in radio broadcasts in France, Italy, Egypt and Russia.
Since 1996 she has been a member of the TM+ today’s music Ensemble, directed and conducted by Laurent Cuniot.
Sylvia Vadimova has also participated in recordings of operas, symphonic works, contemporary pieces and chamber music, and two recordings of her recitals were edited by labels VideoRadio Fonola Dischi (VR CD 000389)* and Bongiovanni (GB 2542-2).
Since 1996 Sylvia Vadimova leads master classes and workshops on vocal and musical subjects for professional singers, students or amateurs of all ages.
* This record received a “four stars” review on Italian music magazine “Amadeus”, April 2001.