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The American coloratura soprano of Russian heritage, Fotina Naumenko, received in 2010 her Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice with honors from the Eastman School of Music (2006-2010). While at Eastman, she was featured as a soloist in J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. She was also chosen to perform as the soprano soloist for the Eastman Women's Chorus in Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was involved in several productions of the Eastman Opera Theater, including Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande, Kander and Ebb's Cabaret, Puccini's Suor Angelica, Mozart's The Impresario, and performed as Despina in Così fan tutte in the Opera Gala Concert held in historic Eastman Theater. During her time at Eastman Fotina also explored her love of art song repertoire, and was awarded Honorable Mention at the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition in 2010. She was also member of Voices, Rochester's select professional chamber choir directed by William Weinert, and the Eastman Collegium, an early music ensemble led by internationally acclaimed lutenist Paul O'Dette.
Fotina Naumenko is an active performer of a wide variety of repertoire, including opera, art song and musical theater. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music Degree at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (2010-2012). In CCM Opera's 2011-2012 season, she will be seen as Clorinda in the production of Rossini's La Cenerentola. Last year, she took part in CCM's "gripping" (Cincinnati Enquirer) production of Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites as Sister Alice of the Carmelite Ensemble. This past summer, she was honored to join the Solisti program of CCM's annual summer festival in beautiful Spoleto, Italy. There, she portrayed the characters of Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Zerlina in Don Giovanni in the orchestral scene galas, as well as Monica in The Medium in a Solisti showcase performance.
In addition to performing, Fotina Naumenko is experienced in the Arts Administration and Education Administration aspects of the arts. She has held positions with the Eastman Admissions Office (2006-2008), the Eastman Office of Careers and Professional Development (2008-2010) and the CCM Admissions office (2010-present). She has held an internship with Pegasus Early Music (Rochester, NY) as assistant to the Artistic Director.
Fotina Naumenko is of Russian heritage, and is a proponent of increasing knowledge and familiarity of the Russian vocal repertoire among her peers. She is a prize-winner in the 2010 New Venture Challenge Competition (Eastman) for her development of a Russian Diction Online course for singers. She is also the recipient of the Arts Leadership Program Certificate at Eastman. |
