ILONA DOMNICH
Soprano Ilona Domnich
A performance by Soprano Ilona Domnich pulls you in. In fact, Ilona's pure emotion as expressed through the multi-faceted colours of her voice never fails to captivate and leave her audience moved.
Ilona Domnich...gave the most compelling performance of the piece I've ever witnessed: not big in gesture, but minutely observed, utterly credible, and sung with a disarming, jewel-like beauty. I've seen a lot of Voix Humaines...this was the first I've ever known to leave me on the edge of tears.
Michael White, Opera Now
The depth of feeling she elicits through each vocal performance comes directly from her complicated Russian childhood, filled with poetry and music and punctuated by such emotionally charged events and surroundings, that Ilona was destined to perform on the operatic stage from day one. Ilona was born in St Petersburg and raised in Israel. She can trace her passion for performance to her grandmother's small living room, filled with books, where friends regularly gathered to recite great Russian poetry and sing songs all about love, loss and misery.
"In performing, I managed to connect all the experiences of my childhood. It was as though I realized I could express my emotions through music from now on. I didn't need to talk about the feelings or contemplate them for hours. I could just connect it all to the music. It was a revelation."
Supported by major scholarships, Ilona studied at the St. Petersburg School of Music, Jerusalem Academy and with Vera Rosza at the Royal College of Music, supported by the prestigious Wingate scholarship. It was the result of studying with Vera Rosza that Ilona's operatic fate was sealed.
"I get complete sensual excitement from singing. Many times I find myself in love with the music. The music runs through my veins tickling my senses."
Her operatic roles include Zerlina, Don Giovanni, Mozart; Laura Romeo and Juliet, Benda; La Voix Humaine, Poulenc; Tatiana Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky; Columbina The Jewel Box Mozart at St.John’s Smith Square, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Mozart; Blondchen Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart.
As a recitalist Ilona has appeared at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, St. James' Piccadilly, St.George’s Hanover Square, Lauderdale House and American Cathedral in Paris and more and has sung ‘White knight’ a mono opera, for Chelsea Schubert Festival; Mozart Mass in C minor; Mendelssohn Elijah; Mahler Symphony No 2; ‘Brief Encounter with Rachmaninoff’ for The London Song Festival; Shostakovich 14th Symphony; Verdi’s Requiem; Strauss Brentano Songs, op 68 at Huddersfield Halls; Beethoven 9th Symphony.
In 2009 Ilona produced her first Album CD ‘Le Secret’, which was featured in BBC Radio 4 Documentary ‘Performing to the Red Light’,
Ilona has studied with Enid Hartle and more recently with Yvonne Kenny and Joan Rodgers. For more information please visit www.ilonadomnich.com
Representation: worldwide
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PRESS
REVIEWS
FOR ILONA DOMNICH
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OPERA NOW choice - October 2007
"A revelation...conjuring heavily oppressive atmosphere from little more than darkness, a few bedside props and some taped passing trains, with the audience gathered in close on three sides and the piano lost in the shadows...La voix was turned into a squalid, bedsit drama, unadulterated by heroic grandeur, with the audience on its knees, not just emotionally but morally. It felt like we were peering at this little drama through a keyhole, voyeuristically and shabbily. I've seen a lot of La Voix Humaines but this was the first to leave me on the edge of tears. It was superb. Ilona Domnich, the young uk-based Russian soprano in the solo role, gave, the most compelling performance of the piece I've ever witnessed: not big in gesture- she had no gallery to play to- but minutely observed, utterly credible, and sang with disarming, jewel-like beauty. That her English had a Slavic sponginess in the consonants only added to the sense of vulnerability and pathos. And her pebble-in-the throat vibrato did the same, its edginess of the endearing rather than excoriating kind. This was a wonderful affecting little show, and one that ought to launch Ilona Domnich on a serious career.
Michael White, Opera Now
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'.. Ilona Domnich was unforgettable in this lengthy, demanding and harrowing role, responding skillfully to every nuance in the text (her voice finding countless varieties of light and shade), and adroitly and sensitively to Sebastian Harcombe's sympathetic direction. I felt I was watching something natural and real a human being in distress, desperate, trying to cope with the ugliness of a life that held out no hope for her. Sergey Rybin accompaniment was authoritative and mesmerising. I liked the bareness of juxtaposing a single musical instrument with a single human voice. Deprived of the colour of orchestral instrumentation, the accompaniment took on an utterly appropriate spareness. Even the silences spoke. The style ranged from gruffness to tenderness, from brusqueness to delicacy.
Classical Source 2007
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Don Giovanni/Zerlina
'..Ilona Domnich is a sweet-toned, knowing Zerlina,'
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times March 23, 2008
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'..Ilona Domnich is a strikingly assured Zerlina, audible even in the low tessitura of the quintets'
Independent on Sunday Mar 23, 2008 Anna Picard
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'..Ilona Domnich fruity Zerlina brings some welcome charm to the table',
Neil Fisher, The Times March 21, 2008
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'..she had a graceful stage presence and sang both her arias attractively and with opulent tone.',
Ruth Elleson © 2008, Opera Today
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The London Song Festival/ Spanish song recital
'..Ilona Domnich was clearly already a favorite of local audiences with her bell like soprano. Les Filles de Cadix showed off all the glitter at the top of her voice, and she did equally well with the specially commissioned and rather intense cycle Sea: The Soul of Spain'
Serena Fenwick, MUSICALPOINTERS October 2007
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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RECORDINGS
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