MARIA MUDRYAK, Soprano

Maria Mudryak, Italian naturalized Kazakh soprano born in 1994, began her musical studies in piano and singing in her hometown, Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) then she attended the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where she graduated with honors at the age of 18 years old.

She already participated in numerous international concerts, in Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Italy.

In 2013 was finalist at the “Benvenuto Franci” competition in Pienza where she also won the “Youth Project” award of the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa, in the same year she also won the second prize “Female Voice” and the Audience Award at the Opera competition “Magda Olivero”, as well as the 65th Competition for Young Opera Singers of Aslico Circuit and was part of the “Young Singers Project” of the Salzburg Opera Festival.

Last season Maria debuted as Susanna in Mozart’s LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Recently she was Norina in DON PASQUALE and Giulietta in LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN in Bergamo, Como, Cremona, Pavia and Jesi, Musetta in LA BOHÈME in Ravenna, Vilnius and Mumbai and Mimi at Theatre Astana Opera in Astana, she sang in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at Petruzzelli Theatre in Bari, Naples and Palermo, LA SCALA DI SETA in Liege, LA TRAVIATA at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Genoa and Naples, she was Adina in L’ELISIR D’AMORE in Ravenna as well as in Piacenza directed by M° Leo Nucci, LA VEDOVA ALLEGRA and UN BALLO IN MASCHERA in Beijing, TURANDOT in Shaanxi. She also performed in some concerts in Piacenza and Mantua alongside M° Leo Nucci.

Among her future engagements: L’ELISIR D’AMORE in Avignon and Beijing, FAUST in Melbourne, RIGOLETTO in Liege.

Vincenzo Costanzo, Tenor

Vincenzo Costanzo is one of the youngest Italian tenors of the opera scene, winner of the “Oscar Della Lirica” Award (New Generation Tenor Award), in Doha (Qatar) in December 2014. Born in 1991, he began his musical studies at the age of six years old, singing in the children choir of Teatro San Carlo in Naples. At the age of 11 years old, he made his debut as a soloist. He studied piano and music theory privately then graduated at the conservatory.

In parallel he took Degree in Computer Engineering. He began to study singing with M°Marcello Ferrara, son of the famous violinist M° Aldo Ferraresi; later studied with M° Marco Berti.
Despite his young age, Costanzo has already had the opportunity to know and work with internationally renowned conductors and directors such as M° Daniel Oren, M° Franco Zeffirelli at the Arena di Verona, Liliana Cavani at the Liceu in Barcelona.
In December  2012 he made his debut in MACBETH at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, under the baton of M° Andrea Battistoni; in July 2013, on the occasion of the Verdi Bicentennial, he debuted in Busseto in the role of Rodolfo in LUISA MILLER under the conduction of M° Donato Renzetti
and with the extraordinary collaboration for the theatrical staging of the baritone Leo Nucci.
Then he sang the same role at Teatro Comunale di Piacenza,
Teatro Comunale of Ferrara and the Teatro Dante Alighieri in Ravenna, with great success by the public and critics; in September of the same year he made his debut in the role of Alfredo Germont in LA TRAVIATA conducted by M° Daniel Oren at the Guangzhou Opera House, in a production of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden of London. After the experience in China, he takes part in setting of LA TRAVIATA at La Scala in Milan for the opening of the 2013/2014 season.
In February 2014 he debuted the role of Pinkerton in MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of M° Juraj Valcuha and later took part in the production of SIMON BOCCANEGRA at the Municipal Theater in Piacenza directed by Riccardo Canessa. In the spring of 2014 he made his debut as Pinkerton at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, with the conduction of M° Bisanti; role then also debuted at Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Subsequently he collected new successes in the role of Alfredo (LA TRAVIATA) in Novara with M°  A. Battistoni and in Astana (Kazakhstan) with M° Francesco Ciampa Ivan.

Costanzo ended 2014 by taking part in New Year concerts at Guangzhou Opera and Shanghai (China).

Recently he performed in MADAMA BUTTERFLY with La Verdi Orchestra in Milan, in Florence, Piacenza and Venice, in MACBETH at the Dutch Opera Theatre in Amsterdam and in Palermo, as Rodolfo in LA BOHEME in Palermo, LUISA MILLER as debut at Teatro Real in Madrid, NABUCCO at the Reggia di Caserta in Italy, UN BALLO IN MASCHERA in Piacenza, Modena and London, MADAMA BUTTERFLY in San Francisco. He was also invited to the AIDS Gala at Deutsche Oper in Berlin, where he also sang Alfredo in LA TRAVIATA.

His upcoming engagements include LA BOHEME in Palermo, SIMON BOCCANEGRA in Montpellier, LA TRAVIATA in Beirut n and MADAMA BUTTERFLY in Wiesbaden.

Gianluca Marcianò, conductor

Young Italian conductor Gianluca Marcianò is Artistic Director at the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut.  Previous posts have included the Tbilisi State Opera & Ballet Theatre in Georgia where he conducted La Forza del Destino, Cavalleria Rusticana, Nabucco, Attila, Il Trovatore, Mitridate, Re di Pontoand Aida, as well as concerts with Andrea Bocelli in Georgia.

Highlights within the 2015/16 season include a return to the Opera de Oviedo in October to conduct a new production of Nabucco by director Emilio Sagi, which tours to Gijon and Pamplona. In December, Marcianò will conduct Verdi’s Ernani at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Much of Marcianò’s operatic work in the UK has centred on English National Opera with Jonathan Miller’s production of La Bohème and Anthony Minghella’s production of Madama Butterfly as well as Grange Park Opera where he has conducted productions of Eugene Onegin, Samson et Dalila, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, I Puritani, Queen of Spades and La traviata as well as a gala concert with Simon Keenlyside and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.  He has also conducted at Longborough Festival Opera (Die Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte and La traviata) and the Chelsea Opera Group (Manon Lescaut, La traviata, La Favorite and Alzira).

Marcianò also had strong ties with the opera houses in Zagreb, Minsk, Sassari and Prague. During his time in Zagreb as the main conductor, he conducted Nabucco, La traviata, Turandot, Carmen, La Cenerentola and Il Barbiere di Siviglia. In Minsk, he has performed Il Barbiere di Siviglia and La traviata, and at the Teatro Verdi in Sassari, La Pietra del Paragone, Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias and the Italian premiere of Debussy’s La Damoiselle Elue. In 2011 he conducted La traviata at the Prague State Opera.

On the concert platform, Marcianò has worked with instrumentalists such as Gautier Capuçon, Arabella Steinbacher, Anna Tifu, Alexandra Soumm, Steven Isserlis, Boris Andrianov, Maria Joao Pires, David Geringas, Khatia Buniatishvili, Sergei Krylov, Nina Kotova, Giovanni Sollima, Sergei Nakariakov and Denis Kozhukin. His recent work includes concerts with the George Enescu Philharmonic and the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he performed Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in 2011. He has a close relationship with the English Chamber Orchestra, opening their 2011/12 London season in a programme including Mozart’s Symphony No.39 and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 at the Cadogan Hall. Other notable orchestras which Marcianò has conducted include the Moscow City Russian Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the English National Opera, the Oviedo Filarmonia, the Sarajevo Philarmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, The World Orchestra, the Macau Orchestra and Beijing Symphony Orchestra.

• 9^th appearance at Al Bustan International Festival of Music and the Performing Arts