Olena Tokar

Olena Mykolajiwna Tokar (Олена Миколаївна Токар; born 21 June 1987[1]) is a Ukrainian operatic lyric soprano. She has been a member of the Oper Leipzig since 2010, and has appeared in Europe including at the Verbier Festival as Puccini's Mimì, at the Vilnius Opera as Gounod's Marguerite, as Verdi's La traviata at the Trondheim Opera, and as Gounod's Juliette at the Grange Park Opera. She recorded a collection of art songs by women composers including Clara Schumann and Vítězslava Kaprálová, with pianist Igor Gryshyn.

Olena Tokar
Олена Токар
Born (1987-06-21) 21 June 1987
Novotoshkivske, Luhansk Oblast, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
OccupationOperatic lyric soprano
OrganizationsOper Leipzig
Awards

Life and career

Born in Novotoshkivske, Luhansk Oblast, Tokar studied voice from 2002 to 2006 at the College of Arts and Culture in Luhansk (Ukraine), then at the Kyiv Conservatory in the class of S. P. Busina and E. H. Kolosova. From 2010, she continued her studies at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig with Regina Werner-Dietrich.[2] In 2011, Tokar took part in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival,[3] taking master classes with Ileana Cotrubaș, Christa Ludwig, Alfred Brendel and Michael Schade.[2] In 2012, she achieved 1st Prize at the ARD International Music Competition.[3][4]

Tokar has been a member of the ensemble of the Oper Leipzig, a junior member in the 2009/10 season, and then a full member. She appeared there as Antigona in Handel's Admeto, Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, Mariana in Wagner's Das Liebesverbot and Gretel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel.[3] In 2016, she added Zdenka in Arabella by Richard Strauss,[5] Liù in Puccini's Turandot[6] and Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro[7] to her repertoire. She appeared as Rusalka in Dvorak's Rusalka[8] and as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.[9]

Tokar has performed as a guest, as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème at the Verbier Festival in 2015,[10][11] and as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at the Semperoper in Dresden in 2016.[3] She first appeared at the Vilnius Opera in 2017 as Marguerite,[10] and performed the title role of Verdi's La traviata at the Trondheim Opera in 2018.[10] She appeared as Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Grange Park Opera in 2018.[12]

Recording

Tokar's recordings include a collection of art songs by women composers, titled Charmes, with works by Alma Mahler-Werfel, Clara Schumann, Pauline Viardot-Garcia and Vítězslava Kaprálová, accompanied by pianist Igor Gryshyn.[13][14]

Awards
  • Grand Prix at the International Boris-Gmyria Competition (2008)[3]
  • Finalist in the Ferruccio Tagliavini International Competition for Opera Singers in Deutschlandsberg (2010)[2]
  • Finalist at the International singing competition Francisco Viñas in Barcelona (2012)[2]
  • 1st Prize at the Lortzing Competition in Leipzig (2012)[3]
  • 1st Prize at the ARD International Music Competition (2012)[3][15]
  • Finalist at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (2013)[2]
  • Christine-Kühne Prize of the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (2016)[16]

References
  1. О себе
  2. "Ukraine: Olena Tokar / Soprano – born 1987". BBC. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  3. "Olena Tokar" (in German). Oper Leipzig. 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  4. "1. Preisträgerin Gesang 2012 Olena Tokar". BR Mediathek. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  5. Ernst, Michael (20 June 2016). "Gefühlschaos auf leerer Bühne: Oper Leipzig beendet Spielzeit mit Strauss". Neue Musikzeitung. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  6. Korfmacher, Peter (23 October 2016). "Sängerfest ohne Happy End". Leipziger Volkszeitung. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  7. Korfmacher, Peter (18 November 2015). "Menschlichkeit in Tönen: "Figaros Hochzeit" in der Oper Leipzig bejubelt". Leipziger Volkszeitung. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  8. Lange, Joachim (5 January 2018). "Der Mond ist aufgegangen …: Antonín Dvořáks "Rusalka" als Märchenoper an der Oper Leipzig". Neue Musikzeitung. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  9. Korfmacher, Peter (7 January 2019). "Strauss und Hofmannsthals "Rosenkavalier" auf dem Gipfel der Schönheit". Leipziger Volkszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  10. "Olena Tokar". Grange Park Opera. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. Jordi Kooiman (6 August 2015). "Verbier: Bohème als showcase voor toptalent". Place de l'Opera (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  12. Hall, George (25 June 2018). "Romeo et Juliette review at Grange Park Opera, Surrey – "a lack of chemistry"". The Stage. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  13. Fairman, Richard (2 April 2021). "Olena Tokar brings female composers to life on Charmes / Works by women from the 19th and 20th centuries are sung with gleaming clarity". Grange Park Opera. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  14. Charmes orchidclassics.com 2 April 2021
  15. "1. Preisträgerin Gesang 2012 Olena Tokar". BR Mediathek. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  16. Erster Christine Kühne-Preis an Olena Tokar. Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 11 October 2016.
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