Singing with Olga C.

Latest news: 2021-2022 season Avantika Swaminathan received 3rd place at Schmidt vocal competition SF Branch, was invited to participate at Summer Vocal Institute. 1st place winner at North region of Voce Competition, advanced to State finals. Still awaiting results. 9 students participated at CM testing, Deeya Methrota, Sandra Luo and Adhya Mahesh finished with excellent results and invited to participate at convention, 6 students received State Honors, Rachel Feldman received Senior award. Students also participated at smaller competitions with awards and honorable mentions, and even in few recitals. Outcomes of 2020-2021 season: 9 students participated at Certificate of Merit. 2 were choosen for convention. 5 received State Honors Avantika Swaminathan received 1st place in regional Voce competition and the Most Promising Sophomore, and Finalist at very prestigious Schmidt competition, Arizona Branch. Rachel Feldman received 2nd place at Voce regional competition High school division David received 3rd place at Voce competition High school division Avantika Swaminathan 07/28/20 It was a very different school year, and we had to do online not only lessons but also State Voce Competition and Certificate of merit evaluations. But we made it! Avantica received 3rd place in State Voce competition, and 8 sthdents passed the tests in levels 2-5, most with State and Branch Honors. Tired... but ready for the new challenges of virtual education. 2/05/20 Congratulations to Avantika on Winning 1st place and to David on winning 3rd place in Voce competition. 1/19/20 Congratulations to Avantika on winning 1st place in Youth Classical division at Cal Western regional Auditions NATS! 1/10/18 I just have to share this: My 13 years old student forwarded to semifinals of national Classical Singer auditions in Chicago!!!! Way to go, Avantika! 8/22/18 You can see me performing with Opera San Jose in Classical Series in the Park in Redwood City. 4/3/18 Three of my students passed Certificate of Merit with honors , one of them was chosen to sing at convention in LA this Summer. ***** Described by critics as "flawless in her singing" (Cultural World Bilingual ), "natural singer with beautiful colors...sings wonderfully, communicating the excesses of passion and emotion, the quick contrasts of mood , with grace and conviction" (San Jose Mercury News); possessing “a pure, strong soprano with phrasing of sumptuous elegance” (San Francisco Chronicle), " dazzling high notes are piercing without being ugly" (San Francisco Classical Voice), "beauty of her voice is outstanding...it has power to set the theater ringing, but it also has a wealth of color... Her stage presence...is magnetic" (Peninsula Reviews), "Her mezzo tones...evoked memories of Maria Callas' spell-binding rendition" (San Jose Mercury News), Olga was announced the Best Leading Female Singer in North East in season 2006-2007 by Opera Online. A native of Russia, she appeared on the stages of the Bolshoi Opera (Maria in Mazeppa, Prilepa in Pique Dame, Brigitta in Iolanta, Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress, Musetta in La Boheme, to name a few), Kazan Opera Theater (Mimi in La Boheme), Stanislavsky Opera Theater (Micaela in Carmen), and Malmo Opera Theater in Sweden (Musetta) before emigrating to the U.S.A., where she appeared with Hawaii Opera Teater as Mimi in La Boheme, San Francisco Lyric Opera in title role of Aida, West Bay Opera and DiCapo Opera in New York in the title role of Manon Lescaut, Opera San Jose and Illinois Opera Theater as Tosca, and with Cedar Rapids Opera, Gold Coast Opera，Golden Gate Opera and Opera North as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, with San Francisco Opera Merola Program and Tampa Opera as Musetta in La Boheme. In autumn of 2009 she appeared in Cairo as Tosca and, in spring of 2010 debuted it Italy at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Carlotta in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten, where she returned following summer in the title role of Aida. From 2006 till 2010 Olga performed with touring company Teatro Lirico d’Europa all over United States in multiple performances of Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Aida, Carmen，La Boheme, Turandot, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana. Olga appeared in title roles with local opera companies like Opera San Jose (Tosca)，;; West Bay Opera (Manon Lescaut, La Forza del Destino), Livermore Opera (I Pagliacci), Martinez Opera (Madama Butterfly), Golden Gate Opera (Madama Butterfly, Suor Angelica, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana), San Francisco Opera Company (Aida) Olga appeared with Orchestra Sinfonica Romana at the concert stage of Santa Cecilia in Rome and Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Verdi Requiem, Quatar with Gala concerts, 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’s Mass in B-minor, at the Grand Hall of 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 2002 Olga participated in San Francisco Opera Center Merola Opera Program for young singers and sang Musetta with Western Opera on tour. Currently Olga devotes herself to voice teaching and performs locally."