Delos proudly presents the debut album by the stunning Siberian mezzo-soprano Marina Domashenko. Marina’s first, self-titled solo effort encompasses an impressive range of musical moods and national styles, reflecting a variety of key roles in her rapidly burgeoning career. She is accompanied by conductor Constantine Orbelian, "a singer’s dream collaborator" (Opera News), and the newly-formed Philharmonia of Russia, combining the creme de la creme of Russian musicians. "Domashenko left the audience literally open-mouthed. This dazzling young mezzo-soprano has developed such a mature mastery and artistic skill that the arias she sang seemed to be a continued string of pearls," boasted Bolshoi Magazine. A mere 27 years old, Marina is already in great demand the world over and is no doubt destined for a superstar career. Petite and vivacious, she has a large, creamy voice that can reach the furthest corners of the largest opera houses, with a remarkable flexibility that covers an array of diverse characterizations. 

 

The album traverses one show-stopper after another, from the dramatic Stride la vampa (Il trovatore) and the impassioned Acerba volutta (Adriana Lecouvreur), to Carmen’s seductive Habanera and Seguidilla, and Dalila’s beguiling Printemps qui commence and bewitching Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix (Samson et Dalila). Along the way, Marina displays breathtaking virtuosity as Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri and sophisticated glamour as Laura in La Gioconda. Turning to her homeland, she contrasts two Rimsky-Korsakov roles, the smoldering Lyubasha in The Tsar’s Bride and the rustic Lel in The Snow Maiden. She is suitably sombre in Field of the Dead, the solo aria from Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, and appropriately mysterious as Marfa (Khovanshchina). Marina closes the album with a sparkling rendition of Prince Orlofsky’s jovial Ich lade gern mir Gaste ein (Die Fledermaus). Marina made her American debut in 2000 at a San Francisco Opera gala concert, singing Dalila opposite Placido Domingo’s Samson. She has appeared at the Opera Bastille in Paris, Teatro la Fenice in Venice and the Vienna Staatsoper. Other engagements include Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, the Teatro Communale in Bologna and the Philadelphia Opera, as well as New York’s Lincoln Center and London’s Barbican Hall. Marina was born into a musical family in Kemerovo, Siberia, and obtained her degree as a pianist from the Kemerovo Arts Institute where her comprehensive studies provided her with an unusually well-rounded and integrated approach to music-making. She later concentrated on her vocal studies full time at the Ekaterinburg Conservatoire under the distinguished Russian National Artist Svetlana Zaliznyak. American conductor Constantine Orbelian has attained a unique leadership position in Moscow’s musical community as Music Director of the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Permanent Guest Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic and founding Music Director of the Philharmonia of Russia. His ambitious series of recordings for Delos includes brilliant collaborations with some of today’s most notable singers, including Polish contralto Ewa Podles’, Russian soprano Olga Guryakova, and future releases with soprano Galina Gorchakova and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Recorded using Sony’s leading-edge DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology,  The recording was made in the historic Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.