Position: Assistant Professor, Voice (Soprano)
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Location: Ruebush Hall, Room 210
Email: fnaumenk@su.edu
Employed Since: 2018
Educational History:
B.M., University of Rochester; M.M., University of Cincinnati; D.M.A., University of Cincinnati
Professional Highlights:
Dr. Fotina Naumenko, soprano, has been praised for her “radiant voice” (Boston Globe), described as both “angelic” (MusicWeb International) and “capable of spectacular virtuosic hi-jinks” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). Dr. Naumenko’s singing encompasses a wide variety of vocal genres including art song, oratorio, opera, choral and new music, both as a soloist and chamber musician.
Festival appearances have included the Ravinia Festival (“Considering Matthew Shepard”), the Constella Festival (“From Russia with Love”), the St. Olav Festival in Trondheim, Norway (Kim Arnesen’s “Wound in the Water”) and the Tanglewood Music Festival (Soprano Fellow). Her performances of David Lang’s just and Castiglioni’s “Cantus Planus” at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music were hailed as “a beautiful performance” by the New York Times and “a stunner” by the Boston Globe. Recent oratorio solos have included Rachmaninoff’s “Liturgy” (Cathedral Choral Society), J.S. Bach’s “Ascension Oratorio” and “B Minor Mass” (Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Vocal Arts Ensemble), Chesnokov’s “My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord” (Cappella Romana), Orff’s “Carmina Burana” (American University Chorus), Mozart’s “Great Mass in C Minor” and Handel’s “Messiah” (Winchester Arts Chorale). She was a featured soloist with the Boston Pops for the symphonic premiere of Sondheim on Sondheim, a musical revue by James Lapine.
Ensemble credits include Grammy® Award-winning Conspirare, Grammy® nominated groups Skylark, Clarion, the Experiential Chorus, the Saint Tikhon Choir and PaTRAM, as well as Cappella Romana, Coro Volante, Alium Spiritum, and the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble. Dr. Naumenko has recorded with these groups on the Reference Recordings, Chandos, Delos, Ablaze Records, Naxos and Cincinnati Fanfare labels.
Dr. Naumenko is a Fulbright scholar, having completed a post-graduate diploma specializing in Russian vocal music at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. The culmination of this work was the creation of www.RussianAriaResource.com, a lyric diction resource for Russian operatic arias. She has previously served on the voice faculty of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, was a resident artist with the Indianapolis Opera, and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music) and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Master of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts).
Personal Quote:Singing brings me so much joy, and it is my honor and privilege to foster this same passion in my students by mentoring them in their technical and artistic development.