Happy New Year everyone!!!

I wish you all a year of blessed days that are filled with love, friendship, joy, health, success and peace!!! Let your days be full of sunshine! I would like you to read and listen to these words as poetry! Let them be a  prophesie of your days ahead or just a simple inspiration, the good is yet to come and that "...one of these mornin's you gonna rise up singin'..." 

Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Yo' daddy's rich and yo' mama's good lookin'
So hush little baby, don't you cry

One of these mornin's you gonna rise up singin'
Then you'll spread your wings and you'll take the sky
But 'till that mornin' there is nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mama standin' by

with much love and admiration,

antonina

Winner of the BEL CANTO VOCAL COMPETITION SCHOLARSHIP

I'm thrilled to announce that I won this competition. It is quite the Christmas gift! I have been wanting to apply for this competition for the last three years and I finally felt like this year I could, should, and would stand a chance to win. I have a strong passion for Bel Canto repertoire and I recently discovered that my voice suits it very well. Bel Canto repertoire requires a lot of demand and it is a real test of the singer's ability and command of vocal technique and artistry.

THANK YOU Bel Canto Vocal Foundation for nurturing the young artists, promoting the Bel Canto repertoire and Bel Canto singing!

http://belcantoscholarship.com/our-newsletter

U-M Orpheus Singers concert

Stamps Auditorium

University of Michigan

Orpheus Singers is a mixed choir of undergraduate and graduate students, and is rehearsed and conducted by the graduate choral conducting students of Jerry Blackstone. 

WINNER OF THE METROPOLITAN OPERA MI DISTRICT NATIONAL COUNCIL AUDITIONS 2014

I had great pleasure singing on the stage of the beautiful Detroit Opera House. It was my fourth time competing in the MI District round and this is the second time, that I had won, two consecutive years. I am excited to have another opportunity to advance to Great Lakes Regional round on January 11, 2015 in Buffalo, NY and see what happens after that. :)

C.P.E. Bach 300th Anniversary Celebration

Tuesday, December 2, 2014, 8:00PM

University of Michigan, Pendleton Room at the Michigan Union Building 

I will be performing an aria and a duet from Die Israeliten in der Wüste Wq. 238 (1769) with a chamber orchestra. This music is stunning and I'm thrilled to celebrate and expose C.P.E. Bach's music. 

You can find a compete program here:

http://www.cpebach.de/en/2014/other/events/1334

Dead Man Walking - U-M Opera Theatre

On Thursday, Nov. 13th, before the opening of the show, we met one of the most amazing human beings, Sister Helen Prejean, who is the author of the book Dead Man Walking. The opera is written by Jake Heggie and libretto by Terrence McNally, based on Sister Helen's book. A true story, about her journey to Christ and how she became a spiritual advisor to several convicts on death row. This woman is so strong, compassionate, direct, and funny! She continues to speak all over the country about many social issues and bringing awareness to the citizens of what death row is and how come it's always done in closed doors and not open to the public of what really happens. She was present in our opening night of this power opera and beautifully written score, which was a success, and I played Sister Rose, who was one of her closest friends at the Hope House of St. Joseph of Medaille.

Simon Carrington Conducting Master Class

Tomorrow, Monday, October 20, I will be one of the graduate conductors to conduct for the renowned Simon Carrington in a Master Class at the University of Michigan. 

Soloist with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra

I'm pretty excited for these recently added upcoming events!

I will be performing as a soprano soloist with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and their new Music Director, Libor Ondras, this December 18 & 19, in Petoskey, MI

Vivaldi's Gloria & Händel's Messiah: Part 1

and

I will also perform as a soprano soloist with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and Kent Philharmonic Orchestra combined, at St. Cecilia Music Center in Grand Rapids, MI, with Libor Ondras. This will be a 100 years celebration of Grand Rapids Community College and I'm so excited to return as an alumni on March 20, 2014. 

Beethoven's Symphony No.9 

*For more info and specific performances times, please check the page UPCOMING PERFORMANCES on my website: www.antoninanc.com 

Shattering the Mirror - Fairy Tale Song Cycle

Shattering the Mirror: A Fairy Tale Song Cycle is an hour-long musical theatre piece that adapts eight classic Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales and brings the stories to life through the perspective of a single character within each song. The music for the show combines elements of popular and classical chamber music to bring the poetic adaptations of the stories to life.

(Recorded live April 27th 2014 at the Keene Theatre in Ann Arbor)

Shattering The MirrorShattering the Mirror: A Fairy Tale Song Cycle is an hour-long musical theatre piece that adapts eight classic Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales and brings the stories to life thr

I'm so proud of this!! This was my first time to cast (along with my colleagues), work very closely with a composer, prepare, coach, and conduct a completely new work for chamber orchestra and singers from scratch! It was fully staged, recorded live, and we presented three public shows in April, 2014 at the U-M Keene Theatre. It will be out on DVD soon, if you are interested, but for now you can listen to some tracks on the above link. The show was directed by James Schmid, composed by Zac Lavender, script by Ryan Widner, and the poetry libretto was written by Melissa Golden, all U-M students, which includes all the singers and orchestra!!!! What an unforgettable time this was, and I cannot wait to conduct the next theatrical work!!! BRAVI TUTTI!!!

Enjoy!! 

Rachmaninoff - Op.38, No.4, Pied-Piper from my Master's Recital

Click to watch a video from the Master's Recital - March 9, 2015

With Dylan Perez at the piano