Maria Mikheyenko Soprano

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Maria Mikheyenko is actively involved in bringing Russian repertoire to audiences of all backgrounds. She has sung Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with the Russian Chamber Orchestra of Marin, was a guest artist at the 18th annual Russian Festival of San Francisco, and performed An Evening of Russian Romance with pianist Alexander Katsman at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

In the world of opera, Ms. Mikheyenko's roles include Lucy in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone (Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute), Ida in Die Fledermaus (Bay Shore Lyric Opera), La Poesie in Les Arts Florissants (Opera Lafayette), Drusilla in L'incoronazione di Poppea (BASOTI), Second Woman and First Witch in Dido & Aeneas, Second Lady in Die Zauberflote, (which marked Ms. Mikheyenko's European debut), and Second Touriere in Puccini's Suor Angelica, (Berkeley Opera).

She had the opportunity to play Mary Ann White, (wife of Dan White -- who in 1978 murdered San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk) in Tom Dean's White Darkness with the Oakland Opera Theater, and last summer she made her Salzburg debut, singing the role of Saffi in Johann Strauss' operetta, Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron), with the Austrian American Mozart Academy.

Ms. Mikheyenko received her BM in voice from the University of Michigan, where she studied with renowned tenor George Shirley, and completed her graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2002, where she studied with Sylvia Anderson. She now studies with Victoria Rapanan.

This spring Ms. Mikheyenko performed with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra at Old First Church, and was also a winner in the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the NATS Voice Competition, placing First in the Art Song Division, and Second in the Opera Division.

Ms. Mikheyenko has also ventured into contemporary opera, and this past spring she portrayed Salai (Leonardo da Vinci’s lifelong assistant) in the world premiere of Leonardo’s Notebooks, written by Bay Area composer Lisa Scola Prosek. She will be working again with Ms. Prosek in May 2007 on her new opera, Belfagor, based on a novel by Machiavelli.

Maria's other upcoming performances include Henry Mollicone's opera, Gabriel's Daughter, with Mission City Opera, and the role of Barbarina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, with Capitol Opera Sacramento. For more about Maria, Go to her Website.