Opera San José - Svetlana Nikitenko

ARTISTS

Svetlana Nikitenko,
Soprano

Svetlana Nikitenko returns to Opera San José as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, having previously performed the role in the company's 2004 production. Ms. Nikitenko has performed to popular acclaim in important houses such as San Francisco Opera (the Queen of the Night); Mariinsky (Kirov Opera) Theater, St. Petersburg, Russia (Queen of the Night and Gilda), and the Kiev State Opera Theater as Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride.

Ms. Nikitenko began her professional career while still a conservatory student with the Moussorgsky Theater of Opera and Ballet St. Petersburg, Russia, where she spent four seasons appearing as the Queen of Shemakhan in Le Coq d'Or by Rimsky-Korsakov. This production toured Italy, Greece, France and the United States (New York State Theater). Other roles with the theater include Violetta (La traviata), Gilda (Rigoletto), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Marfa (The Tsar's Bride), Chlöe (The Queen of Spades), Emma (Khovanshchina) and Xenia (Boris Godunov).

Other American credits include recitals at New York's Alice Tully Hall, Chicago's Ukrainian Art Institute and appearances as Gilda with the Natchez Opera Festival. For Pocket Opera of San Francisco, she has sang the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) and Poppea in Handel's Agrippina and Angelica in Handel's Orlando. For Berkeley Opera, she performed the role of Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio, and appeared as Dew Fairy and Sandman (Hansel and Gretel) at the San Francisco Opera Center.

Ms. Nikitenko was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Finalist (1998), received an Encouragement Award given by the Licia Albanese Puccini International Voice Competition (1995) and is a graduate of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola Opera Program, where she participated in master classes with Dame Joan Sutherland and performed the role of Queen of the Night at Stern Grove Festival (San Francisco) and Meadowood (Napa, CA).

She currently performs the role of The Diva at Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco, and in October 2007 will perform the role of Queen of the Night at San Francisco Opera's production of The Magic Flute.

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