Elizaveta Ulakhovich and Perry Sook Announce UNITED ARTS STUDIES Exploring the World's Greatest Opera Arias

An adventurous and lighthearted video series exploring the coupling of the world's greatest opera arias with masterpieces from the world of classical and modern paintings is being launched Thursday evening, June 24, 2021, 7 p.m. ET on YouTube Premiere. Founded by young opera couple, soprano Elizaveta Ulakhovich and baritone Perry Sook, United Arts Studies hopes to bring familiarity and fun to opera while exploring the visual arts. The series created during the pandemic follows the story of two young opera singers who, finding themselves with sudden free time, decide to enroll in an online art history course. Each episode contains a lesson about a painter and one or two composers and discussions are interspersed with the performance of operatic arias. Ms. Ulakhovich and Mr. Sook hope to entice lovers of the arts as well as novices to opera to enjoy the endless variety of these great human achievements. To view the videos, visit their YouTube Channel.

FRIDA KAHLO - GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL

Thursday, June 24, 2021, 7 p.m. ET - Mexican artist Frida Kahlo & Handel's arias "Piangerò la sorte mia" from Giulio Cesare and "Si, tra i ceppi" from Berenice. (Episode One)

GUSTAV KLIMT - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Thursday, July 22, 2021, 7 p.m ET - Viennese painter Gustav Klimt & Mozart's arias "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" from Don Giovanni and "Come Scoglio" from Così fan tutte. (Episode Two)

SANDRO BOTTICELLI - ANTONIN DVOŘÁK

Thursday, August 26, 2021, 7 p.m. ET - Early Renaissance Italian painter Sandro Botticelli & "Song to the Moon" from Dvořák's Rusalka. (Episode Three)

SALVADOR DALI - GIUSEPPE VERDI

Thursday, September 23, 2021, 7 p.m. ET - Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali & "O Carlo ascolta," from Verdi's Don Carlo (Episode Four)

HENRI MATISSE - BENJAMIN BRITTEN, GEORGES BIZET

Thursday, October 28, 2021, 7 p.m. ET - Modern French Artist Henri Matisse & "Look, through the port..." from Britten's Billy Budd and "Je dis, que rien ne m'épouvante" from Bizet's Carmen (Episode Five)

EDGAR DEGAS - FRANK LEHAR

Thursday, November 18, 2021, 7 p.m. ET - French Impressionist Edgar Degas & "Lippen Schweigen" from Lehar's "Merry Widow." (Episode Six)

Perry Sook is an American Baritone from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. Growing up as both a singer and a football player, Mr. Sook has always combined eclectic interests with a sense of passion. He has toured nationally, performing Shrek in Shrek the Musical; regionally his appearances have included Lancelot in Camelot at the Two River Theatre; at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma he performed Hercules in Disney's When You Wish; Grantaire in LES MISERABLES; Sir Galahad in Spamalot; and Bill Sikes in Oliver!. Mr. Sook played Simon Stride in Jekyll and Hyde at Casa Mañana; Sir Galahad in Spamalot at St. Michael's Playhouse; Jud Fry in Oklahoma! at the New London Barn Playhouse; Warner in Legally Blonde; and appeared in HAIR and Ragtime. Mr. Sook has performed multiple times in The Night of 1000 Stars at the Royal Albert Hall in London and has toured extensively throughout Russia. He received his BFA in Musical Theatre Performance from the Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre at the University of Oklahoma, and studied with Liz Caplan, Matt Farnsworth, and Michael Paul in New York, and several other coaches worldwide.

Elizaveta Ulakhovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. She studied with Evgeniya Gorokhovskaya, a People's Artist of the RSFST (National Rankings of Russian Federation) at the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Music College and the St. Petersburg State Conservatory. A recipient of the third prize in the 2013 International Competition S. Monyushko "Ubelskaya swallow" in Minsk, Belarus, she also received the Special Award in the 32nd International Competition "Ismaele Voltolini" in 2016 in Buscoldo, Italy. That same year, she was accepted into the Young Artist Program of the Bolshoi Theatre under the direction of Honored Art Worker, Dmitry Vdovin. She was involved in the Talinn production of mono-opera "Cormorant, Samson and Delilah" based on Elena Skulskaya's novel, which was broadcast on Estonian national radio and television; she also appeared as Alexandra Yepanchina in the premiere of M. Mieczysław Weinberg's opera based on Dostoyevsky's "Idiot" at the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, and performed the role of the Polovtsian girl in Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" at the historical main stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. Her numerous teachers have included Irina Bogacheva, Lyubov Orfenova and Semyon Skigin (Russia), Alessandro Amoretti, Giulio Zappa, Franco Pagliazzi and Gianluca Pagliuso (Italy), Elizabeth Vidal and Jamal Moquadem (France), Evamaria Wieser (Austria), Mark Lawson, Robert Tuohy, Scott Barnes, and Michael Paul (USA).

Ms. Ulakhovich and Mr. Sook, newly married, make their home in New York City.

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