INTERNATIONAL OPERA ARTISTS PERFORM ALONGSIDE PUPILS IN REPTON CONCERT SERIES
Repton pupils joined international opera singers Hannah Bradbury and Oleg Loza on stage in Beldam Hall on Tuesday 13 October, as part of the Repton Concert Series.
The evening brought together professional artists and young singers within the School’s Music School, giving pupils the opportunity to perform alongside musicians whose careers have taken them to leading opera houses across Europe.
There was a particular connection for Repton’s Vocal Department: Hannah is a valued member of its teaching team, sharing her professional experience with pupils through singing lessons. Performing alongside Hannah and her husband, Oleg, gave pupils a chance to take that learning beyond the lesson and into a shared concert performance.
Hannah made her professional operatic debut at Rome Opera House in Wagner’s Rienzi, returning the following season as Frasquita in Carmen. Her subsequent roles have included Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Marzelline in Fidelio and the title role in Dafne at the Salzburg Landestheater, alongside engagements at Zurich Opera House and the International Handel Festival in Karlsruhe.
Her achievements include Best New Female Artist at the 2016 Austrian Music Theatre Awards and first prize at the Mozart Singing Competition in London. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, she continued her training at the Dutch National Opera Academy and Zurich Opera House’s International Opera Studio.
Oleg’s career encompasses performance, conducting and teaching. He began his musical studies as a pianist before training as a choir conductor at Gnesin College and studying opera singing and voice teaching at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. Following his professional debut at Vienna Chamber Opera, he performed principal roles at venues including Zurich Opera House and Trieste Opera.
An experienced teacher, Oleg has delivered masterclasses at the Richard Wagner Conservatoire in Vienna, and his students have performed on major operatic and concert stages. Now based in the UK with his family, he also teaches music at a school in Staffordshire.
Pupil participation gave the evening an additional significance. Sharing the stage with established artists offered young singers first-hand experience of professional musicianship, while providing an occasion to contribute their own developing talents to the Repton Concert Series.
Our thanks go to Hannah, Oleg and all the pupils who performed for an evening celebrating singing across the Repton community.
