Elda Laro

Conductor & Pianist

One of the most versatile artists of her generation, Elda Laro’s dream was always to one day express herself through the baton. As a conductor, pianist, chamber musician, harpsichordist and accompanist, the child prodigy from Scutari, Albania playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no.1 at the age of only 11 with the National Orchestra went on to be selected as one of the most promising young Albanian musicians and was awarded an overseas scholarship allowing her to study with renowned pianist Remo Remoli at Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Turin, Italy. Elda is currently coach, pianist and staff conductor at the prestigious Deutsche Oper in Berlin and has performed with many of the world’s greatest in classical music.

At the helm of the Orchestra of Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, she recently conducted Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no.2. In 2015 the National Opera in Tirana invited her to debut Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. After much success Mozart’s Così fan Tutte directed from the harpsichord and a staged chorus / ballet performance choreographed by Youri Vàmos of Orff’s Carmina Burana soon followed. During her years as Head of Music at the Münster Theatre and vocal coach at the university there, Elda was also chief conductor of the Münster Concert Choir performing regularly concerts and oratorio including an extensive tour of Italy with Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem.

She studied conducting with Rüdiger Bohn in Düsseldorf and masterclasses include Donato Renzetti, Roberto Rizzi Brignoli and Maurizio Arena. Elda’s eclectic passion for learning including 10 years as a violinist, fluency of five languages; Italian, English, German, French and Albanian as well as an avid chamber musician gives her a solid base like many of history’s greatest opera conductors.

Her piano studies have taken her from Paris, where in 1995-96 she was awarded a scholarship to study contemporary music with world renowned pianist Claude Helffer, to Salzburg, studying under Alfons Kontarsky. Elda’s expertise of contemporary music was recently seen when she was chosen to prepare the world premiere of the opera Wir aus Glas by Yasutaki Inamori, a collaboration between the Deutsche Oper and the Biennale in Munich.

A much sought-after accompanist in song recitals, recent concert appearances include distinguished artists such as Ermonela Jaho, Saimir Pirgu, Dimitra Theodossiu with whom she appeared at London’s Wigmore Hall (also on CD) and the late tenor Marcello Giordani at the Athletic Club in New York City. As a pianist, she had also collaborated with Mirella Freni, Carlo Bergonzi, Roberto Alagna, Renato Bruson, Fiorenza Cossotto and Edda Moser.

 During the 2019/20 season Elda accompanied on tour, singer and world-leading cabaret star Ute Lemper at the Berlin Philharmonie, Hamburg’s spectacular Elbphilharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and other major European venues under the direction of Antonello Manacorda.

 Solo performances with leading conductors include Mstislav Rostropovich, Marc Soustrot, Konrad Junghänel, Bruno Campanella, Donato Renzetti, Marc Albrecht, Donald Runnicles. Major orchestras include the Orchestra of Teatro Regio in Turin, Parma’s Orchestra Arturo Toscanini, Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Verdi Milan, I Pomeriggi Musicali Milan, Orchestra of Val d‘Aosta and the RTSH Orchestra Tirana. Concert tours have taken her to Italy, Spain, UK, Austria, France, Japan, Malaysia and the United States.

 As a recording artist, Elda Laro received critical acclaim for her Chandos CD of Bottesini chamber music awarded 5 stars by the Financial Times. Numerous awards include First Prize at the Concorso di Moncalieri in Turin (1991), Rassegna di Vittorio Veneto (1996) and Concorso di Grosseto (2000). In 2009 Elda was awarded the prestigous Premio Danzuso by the “Amici della Musica di Catania“. Following her studies with the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, Elda held positions at Festival d‘Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Regio in Turin, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Arturo Toscanini Foundation in Parma and at the Ravenna Festival before joining Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania for twelve years. Committed to sharing her expertise, Elda regularly gives masterclasses as a vocal coach. For the last 5 years she has taught in Portocomaro, Italy.

 In May 2021, Elda will perform in Antwerp with Albanian soprano Ana Naqe and the contemporary dancer Nadine Baboy in two separate live streamed concerts featuring the music of Janaçek and Korngold respectively. In June, she returns to Opera Theater of Tirana to conduct Donizetti’s Elisir d’Amore. This summer, she will also perform at the Festival “Mik” in Korça (Albania) with the Trio Deutsche Oper Berlin and conduct Menotti’s The Medium at Moscow Conservatory. On September 5th, she will perform in recital with star Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho the Palacio de Congresos in Palma de Mallorca.

Nelson Calzi

Principal Coach & Pianist

Nelson Calzi Graduated in Piano under the guidance of Maestro Claudio Demicheli at the age of 19 with top marks and praise, Continues his further training studies with Franco Scala in Imola, with Riccardo Zadra, Tiziano Poli and Federica Righini at the Piano Academy of Padua.

Soon he undertakes an Intense activity as an accompanying pianist collaborating with Magda Olivero, Carlo Bergonzi, Giovanna Canetti and Vittorio Terranova. Former collaborator of the Toscanini Foundation, of the Verdi Festival in Parma, of Milan, he was Piano accompanist in the preparation of Verdi's “Messa da Requiem” under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly (Milan) and Maestro Romano Gandolfì (Busseto).

In 2000 he was admitted to the course for Maestri collaboratori at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he graduates after a two-year period with top marks and praise. He was Maestro di Sala for Verdi's “Macbeth” at the Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto with the conduction of Riccardo Frizza, for 'Eliogabalo' by Francesco Cavalli in Crema and for 'Lucida degli specchi' at the Barga Theater under the Direction by Roberto Solci.

He made the first ever recording of Rossini's “Inno alla Pace” for baritone, choir and fortepiano, with Michele Pertusi under the direction of Riccardo Chailly (Album “Rossini Discoveries”) and performed in Vienna with Juan Diego Florez, with whom he subsequently made a European tour of presentation of his first solo record with Concerts in Brussels, Paris (Salle Gaveau), Stockholm and Munich and in a recital at the Teatro Nuovo of Spoleto. He is a Piano accompanist at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

He has collaborated with the most important conductors, directors and singers of the last 20 years in over a hundred Productions at the Teatro alla Scala.

He is a teacher at the Academy of the Teatro alla Scala in the singing and pianist classes. He regularly collaborates with operatic Foundations and International singing competitions such as the International Competition “Francisco Vinas” in Barcelona, the “Semperoper” Theatre in Dresden, and the Glyndebourne Festival. He has performed in America, Europe, Asia and Africa. He held Masterclasses in Tokyo, Japan and was Vocal Coach for the production of “Tosca” at Korea Seoul National Opera in September 2016 and for “Boheme” in 2017. In the summer of 2023 he collaborated with the Salzburg Festival for the production “Macbeth” and in August 2024 with the San Francisco Opera for “Un Ballo in maschera”.

GIUSEPPE APREA

Conductor & Pianist

Giuseppe Aprea, graduated with honours and honourable mention at “San Pietro a Majella” Music Conservatory of Naples as pianist and accompanist under the guidance of M° Antonio Traverso and M° Antonio Maione, he persued his music studies at “G. Verdi” Music Conservatory of Milan as symphonic and opera conductor, with M° Daniele Agiman. During the academic years, he had an intense concert activity in chamber ensembles ranging from classical to contemporary repertoire and had private studies on the music composition. He deepens his knowledge in jazz music and his skills in the audio recording, approaching both electronic music and improvisation methods in relation to various musical languages.

In 2020 he made his debut as a conductor at the F.I.M.E. (International Midsummer Festival) of Tagliacozzo (AQ) conducting the “Stabat Mater” and “La Serva Padrona” by G. B. Pergolesi. In 2021 he was called back to collaborate with the festival, conducting “Pagliacci” by R. Leoncavallo. He actively participates and cooperates to numerous Masterclasses held by internationally renowned artists such as Michael Paul, Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi, Glenn Morton, Amand Hekkers, Adi Bar, Maria Szraiber, Irina Voro, Maria Grazia Schiavo, all over Italy, New York, Poland, on vocal technique and interpretation of the opera and chamber repertoire, on the tradition in Italian opera, on the history and style of Neapolitan musical production of the classical and romantic era, on the piano performance of Chopinian music, on the style and interpretation of German lieder and French chanson. He was accompanist in singing auditions for Riccardo Muti, Bill Schumann, Giandomenico Vaccari, Alberto Paloscia, Maurizio Maglietta, Giuseppe Sabbatini. He got numerous collaboration contracts with the Naples’ Music Conservatory, working as accompanist in the singing and solo instruments classes.

He regularly works as a composer and arranger. He composed original music for ballet, fashion show, commercials. There are numerous original program compositions for chamber ensembles, voices, solo instruments and choirs, as are the arrangements and transcriptions for piano, guitar duo, woodwind quartet and string orchestra. He is pianist and composer of an experimental contemporary music piano ensemble, thanks to which he got three recordings and four publications. He also got a professional certification for the psychological and physical rehabilitation for the scientific application of the music therapy. Currently he’s a freelance conductor, coach and piano accompanist.

Dr. Ksenia Leletkina

Vocal Coach and Pianist

Russian born pianist Ksenia Leletkina enjoys a vigorous career as a sought-after vocal coach, pianist, and Russian specialist. She is currently on staff at the Metropolitan Opera and on faculty at the Julliard School. As an author and editor her recent publications include Anthology of Russian Songs and the second volume of Libretti of Russian Operas for Leyerle Publications. She taught courses and workshops on Russian diction at various academic and professional institutions including Eastman School of Music, NATS, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Naples, Arizona Opera, Lindemann Young Artists Program.

As vocal coach she has held positions at Palm Beach Opera where she served as Principal Coach, Eastman Opera Theatre, as a coach and music director, Opera Naples, the Renata Scotto Opera Program, and taught for nine summer at the Italian program Si Parla, Si Canta. Throughout her

performance career, she appeared on stages in South Korea, Italy, Norway, Russia, Canada, Brazil and the US, including the Kennedy Center.

Ms. Leletkina earned her Doctoral Degree from Eastman School of Music in Accompanying and Chamber Music, and her Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, double majoring in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano.

Hayk Grigoryan*

Co-Founder & Russian Repertory Specialist

*In Absentia Summer 2024