Milana Sarukhanyan

Education

About me

“Beautiful voice with such passion, feeling and velvet sound” – Christopher Axworthy/Musiccommentary

Milana Sarukhanyan is a prize-winning Ukrainian soprano based in London.

At the age of 16, Milana received a place at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatoire in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she studied with Professor Evgeniya Perlasova. In the same year she was also accepted at the Bogacheva Vocal Studio in St. Petersburg where her studies focused on acting, stage speaking, vocal and operatic repertoire with Genrich Zdanevich, Zhanna Tkacheva,Yulia Simonova and Elena Gaudasinskaya.

In 2014, Milana relocated to London where she began her Bachelor in Music degree at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) studying with Philip Doghan and Ian Partridge, and graduating with first-class honours in 2018. Currently a postgraduate at the Royal Academy she will complete her Masters Degree in summer 2020. Recent awards include First Prize at the Fiestalonia Milenio International Arts Contest (Lloret del Mar, Spain, March 2018) and a Silver Medal at the 1st International Music Competition (Vienna, Austria, January 2019). Most recently she was awarded a scholarship by the Bologna International Opera Academy allowing her to attend an intensive two-week programme in summer 2020.

Milana began performing in public concerts and competitions from an early age but her passion for opera was first ignited when she was offered the roles of Fairy Aunt and Younger Sister, Marianna, in Asafiev’s 'Cinderella' at the Bogacheva Vocal Studio in 2013. Since that time her operatic interests have continued to grow with recent repertoire including Najad 'Ariadna auf Naxos' (Berlin Opera Academy, Germany, 2017), Lauretta 'Gianni Schicchi' (RAM, 2018), Micaëla 'Carmen' (Barcelona Opera Studio, Spain, 2019), Emilie 'Les Indes Galantes' (Ensemble OrQuesta, London, 2019), Mademoiselle Silberklang 'Der Schauspieldirektor' (RAM, 2019) and Mařenka 'Prodaná Nevěsta' in the Royal Academy Opera Scenes (October, 2019).

In March 2019, Milana was honoured to premier 'Two Cat Songs' by Elena Langer at the Chamber Music Festival entitled 'Hitting the right note - Amazing Women of the Academy'. According to Langer herself, Milana’s “interpretation was full of imagination and a witty sense of humour with exquisite cat intonations in her voice". In December 2019, with cellist Ben Finlay, Milana gave a recital of British and Slavic music, which included a performance of Tavener’s Akhmatova Songs. According to reviewer, Elaine Annable: “Milana Sarukhanyan has a captivating stage presence and her acting through song is outstanding; as the piece reached a climax in 'Death' at the close of the work, you had the feeling that she had perfectly expressed the essence of what the composer was looking for, eloquently conveying the anticipation of death.” (See https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Review-Milana-Sarukhanyan-Soprano-Ben-Finlay-Cello). June 2020 will see Milana perform a series of arias at the premiere of ‘A Tale of Two Roses’ at Sadler’s Wells in London.

Other recent projects include a production of 'Semele' by Handel at RAOpera with Laurence Cummings and Olivia Fuchs (London, November 2018), the Rachmaninov Song Festival with Alexandr Karpeyev (London, October 2018), Mahler's 3rd Symphony with Daniel Cupps (London, October 2017), Mahler's 2nd Symphony with Semyon Bychkov (London, June 2017), 17th Encuentro de Música y Academia Festival (Santander, Spain, July 2016), a production of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' at ‘The New Generation Opera Festival' (Florence, Italy, August 2019) and a range of roles as part of the Royal Academy of Music Opera Scenes concert series (2018-2020).

The many venues at which Milana has performed include the John Macintosh Arts Centre, David Jozefowitz Recital Hall, Pushkin House-Museum, Royal Festival Hall, Rudolf Steiner House (London, UK); the Palau de la Música Catalana (Barcelona), Teatro Concha Espina (Torrelavega) and Sala Pereda (Santander, Spain); the Pushkin Theatre of Drama in Kerch (Ukraine); the Glazunov Concert Hall and Chaliapin House-Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia) and the Johan Joseph Fux Conservatorium (Graz, Austria).

In addition to her vocal performances, Milana is a keen amateur dancer. In September 2018, she joined the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in London where she studied with Konstantin Runkovsky and went on to win 3rd Prize in Pro/Amateur American Rhythm and 4th Prize in American Smooth at the Blackpool Dance Festival in the UK. She is currently continuing her studies at the Flow Dance Studio in London with Zsolt Faskerti where she concentrates on International Ballroom and Latin Dance.
Additional skills:
Arthur Murray Franchised Dance Studio-Ball Room and Latin Dance (Amature Level) London,UK (2017)

Skills

Languages Spoken	English, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian
Media Specialism	Spoken word & performance poetry
Dance Styles	Ballroom, Belly Dance, Salsa, Swing Dance, Tango
Vocal Types	Soprano
Singing Styles	Adult Contemporary, Choral, Folk, Jazz/Blues, Legit/Classical, Opera
Musical Skills	Piano/Keyboards