Conductors

At the age of eight, Nicola Colafelice began his musical studies on the cello under the guidance of Maestro Vito Paternoster. In 2009, he obtained his Diploma in Singing, and in 2017 he graduated in Orchestral Conducting with top marks and honors under Maestro Giovanni Pelliccia.

From 2009 to 2012, he served as Stage Conductor at the Fondazione Lirico Sinfonica Petruzzelli e Teatri di Bari. In August 2016, he took part in the masterclass on Verdi’s La Traviata held by Maestro Riccardo Muti at the Italian Opera Academy.

In February 2017, he won a scholarship to the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., where he earned his Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting. In May 2017, he also attended, as an active participant, the conducting masterclass led by Maestro Donato Renzetti at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan with the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali.

In 2018 and 2019, he worked as Resident Conductor at the State Opera House of Stara Zagora (Bulgaria), where he conducted three chamber operas: Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny – Ein Songspiel and Die sieben Todsünden, and Paul Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück. In May 2019, he conducted Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Stara Zagora Opera House.

Later that year, he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Leonardo Colafelice for the Piano and Friends Festival in Molfetta, conducting the Orchestra Filarmonica Pugliese (OFP).

In September 2019, he conducted the Bari Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with violinist Maria Serena Salvemini, performing works by Beethoven, Tartini, Saint-Saëns, and Haydn.
Since October 2019, he has collaborated with Maestro Simeone Tartaglione at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland as Assistant Conductor of the MCYO Orchestra.

Born in West Ukraine in 1976, she began her musical studies at 7 years of age. She studied in the Special School of Music in Kiev, and from 1996 to 2001 she attended superior studies in Bratislava at the Music and Theatre Academy, where she obtained the “Magister d’Art” Diploma in piano. In Slovakia she has participated in numerous festivals, holding concerts and collaborating as soloist with the Slovakia Chamber Music Orchestra and the Cappella Istropolitana.

Subsequently, she attended refinement studies at the Schola Cantorum in Paris in Eugen Indjic’s class (student of Artur Rubinstein). At the same time, she studied orchestral conducting at the National Conservatoire in Rueil-Malmaison, obtaining the First Prize Diploma (Gold Medal) in May 2004. In June 2007 she obtained, unanimously, the Orchestral Conducting Superior Diploma at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris in Dominique Rouits’ class. In 2008 she graduated in piano with full honors at the Musical Institute of Teramo in Italy.

Since 2002 she collaborates with the International Festival “Duchi d’Acquaviva” of Atri (Te) as a pianist and conductor. She is artistic consultant of the Association “Amici della Musica 2000” di Atri (Te). She was assistant of the principal conductor of the Opera of Massy (Paris) for the 2006/07 season.

She has worked as conductor with internationally renowned soloists such as violinist Marco Rogliano and Ida Bieler, pianists Pasquale Iannone, Eugen Indjic and Yevgeni Moguilevski, cellists Ivan Monighetti and Maria Kliegel, flutist Angelo Persichilli, clarinetists Calogero Palermo and Patrick Messina, bassoonist Valentino Zucchiatti, etc. She regularly performs in duo with the pianist Algino Battistini.

Born in South of Italy, she began her studies on the piano. Then she graduated in Composition, Orchestra Conducting and also in Literature and music history with a thesis on Luciano Berio.

She holds a master’s degree in onducting under the guidance of Jorma Panula, Bruno Bartoletti, Lu-Jia, Alain Lombard, Donato Renzetti e Piero Bellugi.

She has performed in venues like Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Wien, Esterazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Smetana Hall in Prague, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Surayya Opera in Istanbul. She collaborated with artists like Calogero Palermo, Omar Tomasoni, Carlo Parazzoli, Silvia Careddu, Patrick Messina, Sergey Galaktionov, Davide Alogna, Marco Rizzi, Anna Serova, Roman Spitzer, Emanuele Silvestri, Gernot Süßmuth, Felix Schwarz.

In 2018 she was nominated as Music Director of AYSO Orchestra, a youth orchestra composed by about 70 musicians from all over Italy; in just a few years AYSO has become a national reference point and a valuable trait d'union between academic training and the world of professional orchestras.

She recently led AYSO to win first prize at International Summa Cum Laude Festival in Wien against orchestras from all over the world.