Masterclass

BIOGRAPHY

Marina Krilovici
Born in Romania, the brilliant soprano Marina Krilovici can claim a remarkable series of triumphs on the international musical stage. Her spectacularly beautiful voice, musicality, and technique have been heard and appreciated in the world’s biggest lyric theatres (Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Hamburg, Paris, Firenze, Venice, Vienna, etc.), singing principal roles alongside the greatest conductors, singers, and directors of the opera world (Domingo, Pavarotti, Carreras, Scotto, Verrett, Bumbry, Brusson, Gobbi, Ghiaurov, Santi, Maazel, Solti, Abbado, Muti, Stein, Ponelle, Ustinov, Menotti, Sanjust, etc.).

She graduated from the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory of Bucharest and continued her studies at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Italy. As a young student, she won many first prizes in vocal international competitions such as Holland’s Hertogenbosch, Canada, Montreal, Brussels, and most notably the George Enescu competition in her home country.

She has been applauded by critics and the public alike, singing roles including Aida, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Adriana Lecouvreur, Carmen, Lady Macbeth, Madama Butterfly, Elisabetta (Don Carlos), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Minnie (Fanciulla del West), Desdemona (Otello), Amelia (Simon Boccanegra), Leonora (Il Trovatore), and many more.

In recent years she has been living in Greece, her mother’s home country, where she introduced her art at the Greek National Opera, the Athens Concert Hall, and many Greek festivals. Lately, she has dedicated herself to teaching many talented young singers. She is the head singing professor at the “Maria Callas Athenaeum Conservatory” of Athens. Many of her students have started international careers and earned prizes at several international competitions. In 2003, she was granted a title of permanently honorable singer by Athens’ Municipality.

Marina Krilovici has received many international honors, the most important being “Citizen of Honor” in Romania. She has served as a jury member in several international competitions worldwide, including Athens (Maria Callas Grand Prix), Canada, and America. She remains an active singer. Her next appearance will be at the famous Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, with a concert planned also for Athens in December 2011 and other countries.

A prominent artist and sought-after teacher, Marina Krilovici has been invited to many master classes worldwide; her greatest passion is sharing her profound knowledge and artistry with the young generation of singers.

Dimitris Yakas
Dimitris Yakas was born in Athens in 1957. He studied piano at the National Conservatory in Athens, graduating in 1977. He continued his education at the École Normale de Musique de Paris (piano, chamber music, and piano coaching [formation de chef de chant]) and had lessons in vocal accompaniment with Dalton Baldwin.

In 1982, after winning a competition, he took a position as coach at the Paris Opera, where he remained until 1991. During this time he worked with many major conductors and singers, giving concerts in Paris, other French cities, and at festivals (Tours, Pau, Strasbourg, Festival de Marmande, de Sully, du Comminges, etc.). He worked many times as coach at the Opera de Lyon at the invitation of Kent Nagano. In 1990, he performed in Paris concerts featuring the complete works of Berlioz for voice and piano (with M. Olmeda, B. Uria-Monzon, etc.).

In 1991, he settled in Athens and became a principal collaborator of the Greek National Opera and the Megaron—the Athens Concert Hall—working with conductors such as M. Viotti, R. Bonynge, D. Renzetti, J. Arnel, A. Allemandi, among others. He has coached singers for world premieres of many operas by Greek composers, including Mikis Theodorakis’s Medea (Bilbao 1991), Thanos Mikroutsikos’s The Return of Helena (Athens 1993), and Arghyris Kounadis’s Bacchae (Athens 1996).

He has played for master classes of J. Pilou, Ch. Ludwig, D. Evangelatos, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Alison Pearce, and others. Dimitris Yakas regularly performs as an accompanist in Greece and abroad with artists such as M. Krilovic, J. Pilou, A. Baltsa, D. Evangelatos, D. Kavrakos, El. Vidal, A. Cognet, D. Theodossiou, and more.