Enchanted Melodies by Women Composers:
Lori Laitman & Margarita Zelenaia
Join The RCAS for an evening of Washington DC premieres!
The music of Lori Laitman and Margarita Zelenaia, two of the most talented women composers of this generation, create musical portraits of life encapsulating emotions ranging from grief to happiness, from tears to laughter.
Tickets: $65*
*Admission includes the performance and a post-concert reception with wine, light hors d'oeuvres, and desserts. Pre-registration and photo ID are required to enter the embassy grounds. Patrons without pre-registration or photo ID will not be permitted inside the embassy.
About the Artists
Lori Laitman, Composer
Photo Credit: Brittany Florenz
Described by Fanfare Magazine as “one of the most talented and intriguing of living composers,” LORI LAITMAN has composed operas, choral works, and over 300 songs, setting texts by classical and contemporary poets, including those who perished in the Holocaust. Laitman’s music is praised for its uniqueness, craft and beauty: “unmistakable sense of identity…masterful skill” (Opera News); “artistry of the highest order” (Textura.org); “gripping and thought-provoking” (American Record Guide). She’s received commissions from the BBC, The Royal Philharmonic Society, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera America, Opera Colorado, Seattle Opera, Grant Park Music Festival, Music of Remembrance, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and others.
With releases on Naxos, Signum, Acis, Albany and other labels, her discography is extensive. She has been featured on Thomas Hampson’s Song of America radio, Internet series and website, and is in The Grove Dictionary of American Music.
Margarita Zelenaia, Composer
Versatile in genre, the music of Margarita Zelenaia defies stylistic boundaries and ranges from operatic and chamber works, to musical theater and art songs. Without prejudices and stereotypes in her writing, Zelenaia possess a rare ability to infuse her music with humor and lyrical tenderness, while also producing works of tremendous depth and seriousness. Casting aside the stereotypical mold of a “contemporary” composer, Zelenaia is a strong believer in melody and direct audience communication.
The music of Russian-born composer Margarita Zelenaia received premieres at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as around the globe in Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Russia and Kirgizstan.
She is currently living with in Fort Lee, NJ, where she is an active composer and a sought-after educator.
Katerina Burton, Soprano
Photo Credit: Fay Fox
American vocalist Katerina Burton, acclaimed for her “rich and warm” singing (Opera Wire) is a recent graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist program at Washington National Opera where she made a thrilling role debut as Micaëla in Francesca Zambello’s acclaimed production of Carmen.
Additional career highlights include Ms. Burton’s work on the world-premiere recording of Jeanine Tesori’s Blue, which was awarded “Best New Opera”of 2020 (Music Critics Association of America). Burton also originated the roles of Verna, Young Lovely, and Evelyn in the world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and later that season completed her first engagement at The Metropolitan Opera, hand-selected as an ensemble member for their GRAMMY Award-winning production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.
Burton completed her graduate studies at The Juilliard School, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Towson University. She is a proud recipient of multiple awards including the 2022 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the 2021 William Matheus Sullivan Foundation Award (in memory of Rose Bampton), the Novick Career Advancement Grant, as well as the Gaddes Career Award presented by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Magdalena Wór, Mezzo-Soprano
Dr. Magdalena Wór is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming, where she teaches Voice and Opera. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Georgia, as well as Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Georgia State University. She is a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions National Finalist, winner of the International Marcella Sembrich Kochańska Vocal Competition and the Heinz Rehfuss Vocal Competition, Finalist of the International Marcello Giordani and Moniuszko Competitions, and an alumna of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Summer Opera Program and the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera.
As a performing musician, Dr. Wór has sung with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Opera, the National Philharmonic, Palm Beach Opera, Baltic Opera, Virginia Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Birmingham Opera, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and New Trinity Baroque, among others. Equally comfortable on an operatic stage and in intimate chamber setting, Dr. Wór has collaborated with fellow musicians across the United States, as well as in Poland, Mexico, Philippines, and Great Britain.
Martin Labazevitch, piano
Praised by critics for his lyricism, virtuosity and an intensity of performance, pianist Martin Labazevitch appeared in many concert halls and festivals in Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Peru and the United States.
Born in Poland, Mr. Labazevitch studied at the Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 2019 he received Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Rome School of Music, Drama and Art in Washington D.C. His main teachers and mentors include Nina Svetlanova, Horacio Gutierrez, Dmitri Bashkirov, Bella Davidovich and Jorge Luis Prats. He has been a soloist with orchestras in Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Japan, and the United States.
Of his debut album release on the Delos label, of the Chopin Concerto with the Beethoven Academy Orchestra lead by Ewa Strusinska, the Fanfare Magazine wrote: “His way of Chopin is fluid and convincing. He plays with a superb control of rubato and has the most beautiful way of melting a phrase.” Of the same album, ConcertoNet wrote, “...he pleasantly refrains from overtaxing Chopin’s conclusive Allegro vivace with shimmering grandeur and eloquent precision that could even rival that of Arthur Rubinstein.”
Igor Zubkovsky, Cello
Igor Zubkovsky started playing cello in his native Russia. He first appeared as a soloist with the Minsk State Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of twelve, performing the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto. Later, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Shakhovskaya, the Gold Medalist of the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition.
Mr. Zubkovsky won top prizes at international competitions, including the International Cello Competition in Minsk, Belarus (II prize), and the Tansman Competition in Lodz, Poland (Grand Prix). As a member of “The Brahms Trio” in Moscow, he won Second Prize at the Trapani, Italy and First Prize at the Weimar, Germany International Chamber Music Competitions. With a remarkable record of performances, awards and academic distinctions, Mr. Zubkovsky was awarded a full scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma.
Since 2003, Mr. Zubkovsky has been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and continues to perform extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. Mr. Zubkovsky is the author of numerous arrangements and transcriptions of duets and trios featuring the cello. He premiered the Cello Sonata by Isaac Mikhnovsky and has several CD recordings to his credit.