SOLOISTS

Veronika Dzhioeva

The Russian lyric-dramatic soprano Veronika Dzhioeva studied with Tamara Novichenko at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St Petersburg. Her career took off in Athens after she won third prize at the 2005 International Maria Callas Competition and got a major boost a year later when she won the Grand Prix at the Amber Nightingale International Vocal Competition in Kaliningrad. That same year, Dzhioeva’s performance of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte was hailed as the ‘debut of the year’ by the Russian magazine Culture. In her homeland, Dzhioeva is one of the star soloists of the Bolshoy Theatre in Moscow and the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, in addition to appearing regularly in Western Europe, the United States and the Far East on both the opera and the concert stage. She works with such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev and Yuri Bashmet, and has shared the stage with such singers as Anna Netrebko and Sergei Leiferkus. Dzhioeva will be making her first guest appearance with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra this season. Under the direction of Mariss Jansons, she will be singing the soprano solo part in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 both in Amsterdam and on tour with the orchestra in Russia.

Pavel Milyukov

Graduated from the Moscow Conservatory studying under Prof. Vladimir Ivanov (2004-2009) and continued advanced studies under him. During 2013 studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz under Prof. Boris Kuschnir. At present he is taking instruction from Lidia Baich at the Vienna Conservatory. He has won prizes in international competitions, among them the 5th Niccolo Paganini International Violin Competition in Moscow (2007, second prize), the competition in Astana (2008, grand prix), in Seoul (2012, second prize), and the 8th Aram Khachaturian Competition in Yerevan (2012, first prize). In 2011 he participated in the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2015 he won third prize in the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moskow. He performs in cities throughout Russia, Austria, Belgium, China, and Korea among other countries. Since 2008 he has been as soloist at the Saint Petersburg House of Music, and since 2012 soloist for the Moscow Philharmonic. He plays the “ex-Szigeti” instrument made by Pietro Guarneri and provided by the Neva Foundation.

Martin Bárta

His repertoire included Opera roles – Giorgio Germont (Verdi: La traviata), Enrico (Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor), Sharpless (Puccini: Madama Butterfly), Ottokar (Weber: Der Freischütz), Yeletsky (Tchaikovsky: The Queen of Spades) – operetta and musical roles (e.g. Freddy in Loewe’s My Fair Lady). In 1997 he joined State Opera Prague, where he debuted as the Herald in Wagner’s Lohengrin. He went on to portray Germont, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Valentin in Gounod’s Faust, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Amonasro (Aida), Nabucco and other roles. At the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava he has portrayed Don Giovanni and Silvio (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci). When it comes to concerts and oratorios, most noteworthy in his repertoire are solo parts in Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, Fauré’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bach’s St John Passion and St Mathew Passion and in Martinů’s The Opening of the Springs. He has performed in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, England, The Netherlands, Japan, South Korea and the USA. He has worked with renowned conductors (Leopold Hager, Pierre Boulez, Asher Fish, Jiří Bělohlávek, Enrico Dovico, Hilary Griffiths, etc.) and stage directors (Giancarlo del Monaco, Patrice Chéreau, Johannes Felsenstein). Since 2006 he has taught solo singing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Miroslav Kultyshev

In 1996, made his debut with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2006, he is a scholar and active participant of the St. Petersburg House of Music. He tours in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the United States, Holland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine. From 2006 until 2007, he took part in an internship at the International Holland Music Sessions. In 2007, he won the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia, being awarded second prize – no first prize was awarded that year. He has released an album which includes his performance of all twelve of Franz Liszt’s Études d’exécution transcendante. He holds scholarships from the Yuri Bashmet Foundation and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society. He regularly tours with the conductor Valery Gergiev. He has also worked with conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Constantine Orbelian, Yuri Bashmet, and Vassily Sinaisky.