Veronica Amarres

Veronica Amarres, the daughter of two well-known St.Petersburg musicians, made her debut as a pianist at the age of 12 on the stage of Great Hall of the St.Petersburg Philarmonic Society. She graduated from St.Petersburg Conservatory, with distinction, in two specialities - piano and singing. While she was still a student, she won a number of prestigious international piano competitions, including I.Prize of Senigallia Competition (Italy) and the III.Prize of UNISA Competition in Pretoria (South Africa). As a young artist Veronica perfected her vocal technique in London with a two years postgraduate diploma and Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She quickly gained international recognition in this field also: her prizes at international competitions include Grand Prix of Hertogenbosch Competition (Netherlands), I.Prize of "Maria Callas Grand Prix" Competition in Athens and prestigious prizes of such competitions as "Alfredo Kraus", "Montserrat Caballe" and "Giuseppe Di Stefano".

Veronica is unique as a performer in combining two such different musical spheres as such a high level. She has recorded 6 CDs (solo and with orchestras), sang in the UK premiere of the opera by American composer Dominick Argento and participated in numerous international festivals, f.e. Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, "Rossini in Wildbad", Ferenc Liszt-Festival (Germany), "Brazil 500 Anniversary Festival" (Rio de Janeiro), Opera Festival "Katia Popova" (Bulgaria), Ravinia Music Festival in Chicago (USA) etc. She worked with many well-known conductors and orchestras - Claudio Scimone and "I Solisti Veneti", Peter Maag, Alberto Zedda, Saulius Sondeckis and Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Dmitry Kitajenko, Paul Goodwin, Marc Soustrot, Zoltan Pesko etc.

Veronica Amarres considers her most important teachers the Kammersängerin Christa Ludwig, the famous American mezzo Grace Bumbry and Professor Rudolf Piernay of the Guildhall School; as a pianist she owes much to the Estonian Professor Bruno Lukk, the virtuoso St.Petersburg pianist Valery Vassiliev and the pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Many well-known musicians - both pianists and singers - have expressed high opinions of the mastery, artistic sensibility and performing capabilities of this young artist. Carriere highlights: "Werther" with Alfredo Kraus (Las Palmas), Mozart?s Requiem and Bizet?s "Carmen" at the Barbican Center (London), Recitals at the Gasteig Philarmony (Munich) and Münchner Biennale Festival, Mozart?s "La finta semplice" and Requiem in Memoriam Marcello Viotti ("La Fenice", Venice), "Cenerentola" and "Cosi fan tutte" (Milan), concerts with Ingolstadt Georgian Chamber Orchestra (cond. Ivan Monighetti), Cherubino in "Le nozze di Figaro" e Rosina in "Barbiere di Siviglia" at Montecorvino Opera Festival (Italy), Rosina at the Teatro Capranica (Rome), concerts in Europe, North- and South-America, Japan. Santuzza in "Cavalleria rusticana" by Mascagni (Salerno, Italy), Vivaldi "Juditha triumphans" in Rome (Vatican), concerts in Lithuania (piano concertos by Tchaikovsky, Mozart and arias by Rossini, Verdi), recitals at the St.Petersburg Philarmonic Hall, Gala-Concert of the Christiane Herzog-Stiftung in Munich (4.Dezember 2005) together withFrancisco Araiza, Vesselina Kasarova, Roberto Sacca a.o. Concerts in Europe, North- and South-America, Japan.