Salon/Sanctuary Concerts Partners With Razom For Ukraine For Benefit Concert

Salon/Sanctuary Concerts will lift its voice to help Razom for Ukraine provide urgently needed humanitarian relief where it is desperately needed in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia.

Accompanied by maestro Gianni Fabbrini of the Semper Oper Dresden, Opéra National de Paris, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, the Festivals of Glyndebourne and Wexford, Maggio Musciale, etc., an ensemble of singers, both American and Ukrainian, share treasured repertoire from opera, oratorio, and recital.

Arias and duets by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner, and Ravel along with traditional spirituals and Ukrainian songs reflect on war, peace, government good and bad, the gift of loyalty and the joy of allyship, the sacrifices of leadership, and the miracle of endurance in the face of overwhelming adversity.

For more information on Razom for Ukraine, please go to https://www.razomforukraine.org

Pianist and conductor Gianni Fabbrini was born in Florence and studied at his city's Conservatory where he earned a diploma in piano, and later perfecting studies in harpsichord. While undertaking Musicology studies at the University of Florence, he also obtained diplomas in Voice and Vocal Chamber Music.

Maestro Fabbrini has worked for prestigious concert and opera institutions abroad such as the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Opéra National de Paris, the Theatre Royale de La Monnaie in Bruxelles, the Palau de Les Arts di Valencia, the Festivals of Glyndebourne and Wexford, the Osterfestspiele, the Festival Rossini in Wildbad, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Bremen Festival, the Semper Oper of Dresden, the National Opera Theatre of Seul, the Bunkamura Orchid Hall of Tokyo, the Biwako Hall of Kyoto, the Shanghai Symphony, and for important Italian entities such as the Rossini Opera Festival, the Società Aquilana dei Concerti, the Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto, the Festival Pergolesi di Iesi, the Estate Fiesolana, the Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Amici della Musica di Firenze. He has worked and performed alongside directors such as Claudio Abbado, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Donato Renzetti, Carlo Rizzi, Claudio Scimone, Alberto Zedda, Renè Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, Jeffrey Tate, Lu Ja, and Emanuelle Haim. He has also worked with internationally renowned stage-directors such as Peter Brook, Peter Stein, Jean Louis Martinoty, Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier and the italians Pierluigi Pizzi, Mario Martone, Damiano Michieletto, Davide Livermore. Fabbrini has performed numerous Lieder concerts and collaborations with the Amici della Musica di Firenze as a collaborative pianist for masterclasses by Julia Hamari, Suzanne Danco, and Elly Ameling.

He worked and collaborated with famous singers such as Claudio Desderi, Fedora Barbieri, Aldo Protti, Flaviano Labò, Rolando Panerai, Giovanna Casolla and Luca Canonici, as well as with more recent stars like Eva Mei, Jessica Pratt. Annick Massis, Antonio Siragusa, Yjie Shi, Bruno De Simone, Nicola Alajmo, Marina Comparato, Sonia Ganassi, Bruno Praticò, etc. As a singer, Fabbrini worked primarily with operatic and contemporary chamber repertoire, recording for RAI 3, RadioMontebeni and the label Diapason.

He was the professor of repertoire for the "Centre de Perfeccionament Plàcido Domingo" at Palau de las Arts di Valencia, for the Showa University of Tokyo, the Walton Foundation of London, for the Accademia Verdiana of the Teatro Regio di Parma, at the Bosphorus University of Istanbul, at LAMP Rossini Academy of Lunenburg (Canada), for the Michigan University of Ann Arbor and for many years he collaborated with the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. Currently he is a professor at the Conservatory of Florence, and has recorded for Bongiovanni, Naxos, Teldec, Dynamic, Unitel Tactus and he has collaborated with Raitre and Archiv.

Soprano, Filmmaker, Writer, and Artistic Director Jessica Gould has been noted for "a dramatic intensity that honored the texts" (The New York Times), "gorgeous melismatic singing" (Voce di Meche), "beautiful interpretation" (The Lute Society of America Quarterly), and "an electrifying voice" (Musicweb International). On the Sony Masterworks label she can be heard live from Carnegie Hall with YoYo Ma, Pamela Frank and the Orchestra of St. Luke's in a new composition by Jeffrey Stock. Other recordings include projects with MV Cremona, New World Records, Naxos, and Da Vinci Classics. A protean artist with extensive experience in period performance, she is transitioning into more dramatic repertoire, with upcoming recitals and recording projects covering territory from Stradella to Wagner.

As Founder and Artistic Director of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, Gould's original programming spanning a millennium of music has been praised as "impeccably curated" by Time Out New York, "highly original" by The New York Times, and "imaginative" by New York Magazine. Her prolific original research projects have attracted support from numerous foundations and institutions, including Carnegie Hall, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Florence Gould Foundation (no relation), the American Philosophical Society, the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, Villa Finaly - La Chancellerie des Universités de la Sorbonne, Palazzo Grimani (Venice), Palazzo Gondi (Florence) among many others.

Ms. Gould continues to enjoy a formidable reception for her maiden film project, Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion, on the international film festival circuit, having garnered 90 awards and counting from festivals across the globe. Her ever expanding list of accolades include Best Picture (Asti International Film Festival), Best First Time Director (Dreamer's Short Film Festival Bucharest), Best Original Script (London International Monthly Film Festival), Best First Time Director (Silk Road Film Awards Cannes), Best Short Documentary (Tokyo International Short Film Festival and 1st Monthly Film Festival Belgrade), Best Documentary (Hollywood Blvd Film Festival and Woodengate Film Festival), and Best Social Justice Film and Best Musical Film (Oniros Film Awards). The laurel of Best Musical Film has also been awarded her from Silk Road Film Awards Cannes, The Cannes World Film Festival, and the Omnia Film Awards (Italy). From Greece, she has garnered Best Black Lives Matter Film and Best Music in a Short (Mykonos Film Festival) and Best Music Documentary (West Side Mountain Doc Fest, Epirus).

Ms. Gould's program notes include essays for Carnegie Hall, the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia), the Da Camera Society (Los Angeles), NYU Villa La Pietra (Florence), Palazzo Grimani (Venice), and Villa Finaly La Chancellerie des Universités de Paris - La Sorbonne (Florence), the Clarion Society (New York City), among many others. Her creative nonfiction, satire, and essays have been published in the literary journals Belle Ombre, The Blue Nib, Exquisite Pandemic, and Months to Years.

Ukrainian-American dramatic mezzo-soprano Galina Ivannikova is hailed by critics and audiences alike fro her rich, lustrous voice as well as for her passionate dramatic portrayals. Bruce Michael Gelbert of NY Art Review raved "Ivannikova's timbre was ruby in color, her chest register aptly gusty, and her emotion pitch-perfect. She possessed a big glorious Verdi voice reminiscent of the Golden Age tradition." Her portrayal of LA Cieca in La Gioconda with NJ Verismo Opera was positively reviewed by Opera Magazine, LONDON as "imposing instrument and passion" For the last a few seasons she sang her signature role of Amneris in many opera theaters, also the roles of Azucena, Ulrica, Eboli, also R.Strauss' and Wagner's roles. Her wide ranging repertoire as a dramatic mezzo includes the roles in Wagner's operas such as Waltraute, Fricka, Erda, Ortrud, Brangäne, in R.Strauss' operas such as Electra and Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Verdi's roles such as Amneris, Azucena, Ulrica, Eboli, also Dalilah, Carmen, Herodiade, ect., and many roles of Russian repertoire.

New York based contralto Vira Slywotzky has performed principal roles with American companies such as Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Chelsea Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Light Opera of New York, Sarasota Opera and Boston Midsummer Opera and has performed internationally in Canada, France, Hungary, Sweden and Wales. In addition to performing traditional repertoire, Slywotzky is a champion of new music, and has premiered more than 25 works ranging in scope from song to opera. Slywotzky produces the mobile musical variety show Vira & Friends and the educational musical digest Music Mondays and serves as the President of the Board of the Berkshire Opera Festival. https://www.viraslywotzky.com/

Described by Opera News as having "dominated the scene vocally," American tenor Lucas Levy's 2021-2022 season began with debuts at Berkshire Festival Opera in Falstaff, Opera Company of Middlebury in The Maid of Orleans, and Opera Project Columbus in a concert of Verdi scenes. Later in the season, he joined Maryland Lyric Opera for Turandot and returns to Opera Company of Middlebury for Orphée aux Enfers. Future seasons include a return to Opera Project Columbus. Additional appearances include St. Petersburg Opera, Opera Maine, Opera Omaha, LoftOpera, PORTOpera, and Sarasota Opera, where he was an apprentice during the 2015-1016 season.

German-American tenor Steven Andrew Murray recently debuted with Detroit Opera(Formerly Michigan Opera Theatre) in Robert O'Hara's critically acclaimed new production of Anthony Davis' opera X: The life and times of Malcolm X, under the baton of Kazem Abdullah as the Cop and Reporter 2. He will participate in future productions of this piece to be announced soon. He recently negotiated a Fach switch to Jugendlicher Heldentenor repertoire including the operas of Strauss, Wagner, Verdi and Puccini over the course of the pandemic under the guidance of famed dramatic soprano Christine Goerke. Other companies include Opera Roanoke as Elder Hayes and Sam cover in Floyd's Susannah and Sarasota Opera as an apprentice artist covering Carlson in Floyd's Of Mice and Men. Steven holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Charleston Southern University and Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music. He is married to Amy Lynn Murray and a proud father to two rambunctious boys, Tristan and Erik, residing in Middletown, Virginia.

Richard Hobson, baritone sang at The Metropolitan Opera for 10 consecutive years. His assignments included The Nose, Don Carlo, Carmen, Rigoletto, War And Piece, Boris Goudanov, Le Rossingnol, Madama Butterfly and Andrea Chenier among other operas. Mr. Hobson sang the eponymous role in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess as New York City Opera and Zuniga in Carmen. He made his Italian debut as Amonosro in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Aida which celebrated the centennial of Verdi's death. With Metro Lyric Opera of New Jersey, Mr. Hobson sang Germont, Marcello, Enrico, Count di Luna and Amonasro under the baton of Anton Coppola. He has sung with Toledo Opera, with Austin Lyric Opera as Rigoletto, Taconic Opera as Rigoletto and Renato and Nashville Opera as Sharpless. Mr. Hobson sang Egberto in Verdi's Aroldo with New York Grand Opera under the direction of Vincent La Selva. He has sung Porgy in Brazil, Germany, Australia, France and in many US cities. he is presently on the faculty of Southern University where he is the founder and director of Opera Southern, the resident opera company of Southern University.

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