Maria Mudryak (born April 6, 1994) is a Kazakh

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Childhood and education

Born in

Pavlodar Pavlodar (; ; ) is a city in northeastern Kazakhstan and the capital of Pavlodar Region. It is located northeast of the national capital Astana and southeast of the Russian city of Omsk along the Irtysh River. In 2010, the city had a popul ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, on April 6, 1994, Mudryak showed a strong interest in music and singing in her early childhood. She first sang in front of an audience when she was three years old and recorded a CD of children's songs at the age of six. She then turned her attention to opera and moved to Italy to start her vocal training at the age of ten. One year later she was admitted into the Children Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala; at fourteen she was accepted into the

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

Conservatory of Milan, from which she graduated with honors at the age of 18. At the same time she attended the “Scuola musicale di Milano” where she studied with Maestro Carlo Gaifa. In the summer of 2014 she was accepted into the “Young Singers Project” at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

Competitions and first engagements

After winning several voice competitions (including the Concorso per giovani cantanti d'Europa As.li.co and "The Opera Ball" in Kazakhstan), Mudryak made her operatic debut as Susanna in Mozart's ''

Le nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna ...

'' at the

Teatro Carlo Felice The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari. History The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, a ...

of Genoa in March 2014, Giulietta in ‘ Les Contes d’Hoffman in Italian Theaters like Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo, Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona, Teatro Sociale di Como, Teatro Fraschini di Pavia, and in same theaters as Norina in

Don Pasquale ''Don Pasquale'' () is a Gaetano Donizetti opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts, with an Italian libretto completed largely by Giovanni Ruffini as well as the composer. It was based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli for Stefano Pavesi's oper ...

of Donizetti . In 2017 at age of 23 years old she was winner of third place and Audience Prize by Rolex in

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

Operalia Plácido Domingo's Operalia, The World Opera Competition is an annual international competition for opera singers, founded by Plácido Domingo in 1993. Overview The competition's parent organization, Operalia Foundation, is a nonprofit organizat ...

competition.

Career from 2015 to present

In the years 2015 to 2017 Mudryak's engagements included Adina in Donizetti's ''L'elisir d'amore'' and Musetta in ''La bohème'' at the Teatro Alighieri in

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

, Musetta at the NCPA

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, Mimì in ''La bohème'' at the Teatro Carlo Coccia in

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

, at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and at the

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

Opera, Norina in ''

'' in

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

Jesi Jesi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Ancona, in the Italian region of Marche. It is an important industrial and artistic center in the floodplain on the left (north) bank of the Esino river, before its mouth on the Adria ...

and

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

, Susanna in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' at the Teatro Petruzzelli in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, Giulia in Rossini's ''

La scala di seta ''La scala di seta'' (''The Silken Ladder'' or ''Die seidene Leiter'') is an operatic '' farsa comica'' in one act by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. Adapted from ''L'Échelle de soie'' by François-Antonine-Eugène de ...

'' in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Violetta in '' La traviata'' at the Astana Opera, at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in

and in open air performances at the

Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

, the Teatro Carlo Felice

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and a ...

Naples, Liù in Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' for the inauguration of the

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Grand Theatre in China, Oscar in Verdi's '' Un ballo in maschera'' at the NCPA Opera Festival Beijing. She also sang excerpts as Gilda in Verdi's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

'' and Luisa in ''

Luisa Miller ''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play '' Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi's initial idea f ...

'' at gala concerts in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

and

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

celebrating baritone

Leo Nucci Leo Nucci (born 16 April 1942) is an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with Verdi and '' Verismo'' roles. Biography Born at Castiglione dei Pepoli, near Bologna, Nucci studied with Giuseppe Marchese. He made his stage debut ...

's career. She made her role debut as Gilda in Verdi's ''

'' in December 2017 with Leo Nucci in the title role, in February 2018 she returned to the

in Naples in the title role of a new production of ''La traviata'' and in July 2018 she made her house debut at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

of Moscow as Mimì in ''La bohème'' In November 2021, it was announced that Mudryak will perform with Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Stoyanov at the Astana Opera House as part of a concert called “For You, My Kazakhstan.” The concert is being held to mark the 30th anniversary of the Independence of Kazakhstan and the Day of the First President.

Collaboration with conductors and stage directors

Mudryak has worked with several prestigious conductor and stage directors, among them conductors

Daniel Oren Daniel Oren (Hebrew: דניאל אורן; born 25 May 1955) is an Israeli conductor. Biography Daniel Oren was born in Jaffa, Israel. His paternal grandfather, a Muslim from the prominent Sikseck family who was married to a Jewish woman, rescue ...

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He is current music director of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the ...

Carlo Rizzi, ,

Stefano Ranzani Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

and and stage directors

Marta Domingo Marta Domingo (née Ornelas, born 1935) is a Mexican opera soprano, stage director and designer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she performed as a lyric soprano in Mexico and Israel. Since the 1990s, she has directed operas in Europe and North America. S ...

, Hugo De Ana, Ferzan Ozpetek and Chiara Muti.

Repertoire

* Violetta Valéry, La traviata (Verdi) * Marguerite, Faust (Gounod) * Adina, L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti) * Giulia, La scala di seta (Rossini) * Giulietta, Les contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach) * Liù, Turandot (Puccini) * Mimì, La bohème (Puccini) * Musetta, La bohème (Puccini) * Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mudryak, Maria 1994 births Living people Kazakhstani opera singers Kazakhstani operatic sopranos Kazakhstani classical musicians Milan Conservatory alumni People from Pavlodar 21st-century women opera singers