Manca Izmajlova

Manca Izmajlova

Manca Izmajlova (pronounced "Mantsa Izmaylova") is a Slovenian opera/ crossover singer (mezzo-soprano) and actress who is best known for her musical project Slavic Soul, recorded and performed live with Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra conducted by Sergei Skripka.

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Early years and music beginnings

Manca Izmajlova was born as Manca Urbanc in Slovenia and spent her childhood and teenage years in Lesce, a village near the famous alpine lake Bled. People often think that she is Russian but the surname Izmajlova comes from her husband Benjamin Izmajlov who has Russian ancestors. Manca's mother is an economist who now owns a small organic food shop in Lesce, Manca's father is an architect. She has two brothers.

Manca started going to music school at the age of 6 and played the flute for 6 years. At the age of fourteen she started to have first singing lessons and started to sing in local bands. In spite of having absolutely no musicians or artists in the family, she always wanted to perform and dreamed of becoming a singer. At sixteen she started to perform with a pianist in cafes and Bled hotels. She also had an affection for learning languages - by the age of eighteen she was fluent in English, German, Italian and Dutch. After finishing the Gymnasium in Kranj she passed the exams to enter the University of Law in Ljubljana, a decision she has made after not being accepted into any of the music programmes in Slovenia. After a year she had quit law and started to study musical theatre in London at the renowned Mountview Theatre Academy.

Start of the professional career

After graduating from Mountview Theatre Academy Manca appeared in a Slovenian commercial with a song called Vesna's song (Vesnina pesem) in 2001 and became well known in Slovenia. She then co-created and started to host a popular Saturday evening national TV Show Care for a Dance? (Povabilo na ples) which featured Slovene National Radio Big Band Orchestra. Manca sang with it in every show. She also appeared in a few theatre shows, directed two musicals and had a fast growing career as a singer in Slovenia. In 2002 her first CD "My World" with a group NORDunk was released. The CD featured new songs in pop-jazz style, written by group members.

After meeting her husband, who was at the time studying violin in Moscow, she decided to pause her career in Slovenia and went back to studying. She moved to Moscow, to study opera singing at Academic College by the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At the end of her stay in Moscow she recorded the CD Slavic Soul (Slovanska duša - 2007) and a year later Slovene Heart (Slovensko srce - 2008) with Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra which became huge successes in Slovenia (platinum sale) and also in other countries. "Slovene Heart" also became an official government present during the Slovene presidency to the EU in 2008.

Career

In her career Manca Izmajlova has performed all around the world in more than 700 musical appearances and concerts. Manca's specialty is also that she can sing in about twenty languages. She says that she is able to learn and perform a song in any language, which she has proven many times, for example - by singing Icelandic and Finnish national anthems. She also sang in Hungarian, Japanese, Swahili... All of the songs of her music project Slavic Soul are in their original (eight) languages.

Today she mostly performs with various orchestras, sometimes featuring a choir (she is known to have a lot of musicians on stage, even 90 - 160) and with pianists like jazz pianist Blaž Jurjevčič and classical pianist Gokhan Aybulus. She also sometimes performs with her husband Benjamin Izmajlov who is a concert violinist and her music producer.

One of the climaxes of her creative career was the opening concert for the fourth Slavic Festival in Moscow (2008), where she and her husband performed as the leading soloists together with the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra of Pavel Kogan. The concert was a huge success and they were awarded with a special medal for inter-cultural relations from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the same year Manca received first award at a singing competition in Moscow (dedicated to 100th anniversary of birth of composer V. Solovev-Sedoy, the author of the famous song Moscow Nights). The competition featured about 2000 singers.

In March 2010 she conducted her first very own big concert in Slovenia's most prestigous hall - Cankar Hall (Cankarjev dom), together with the Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra counting 90 members for this occasion. The concert was sold-out twice and ended with standing ovations. It was broadcast by the Slovene National TV on New Year's Day 2011.

Similar concert with the same orchestra and conducter was repeated in March 2011 at ex-Yugoslavia's largest concert hall - Sava Centre in Belgrade. Manca Izmajlova upgraded her performance with a 70-members Choir Lola (Hor AKUD Lola - the legendary Serbian choir). At the end of this concert there was 160 people on stage and standing ovations from nearly 4000 people in the audience. The concert was recorded HD and has been broadcast on Serbian National TV prime time several times.

Slavic Soul

Manca Izmajlova spent some years studying opera (mezzo-soprano) with famous Russian teachers and discovered the immense richness in music of Slavic nations. Years of forming ideas have resulted in "Slavic Soul", followed by "Slovene heart". These unique music projects of the "crossover" genre unite Slavic music and bring it to a new level. Manca and her husband (producer, violinist) Benjamin Izmajlov recorded them with Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra and the legendary conductor Sergey Skripka. Both albums have achieved major success in Slovenia and sold in platinum album sales.

The project was created by: Manca Izmajlova, Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra and conductor Sergey Skripka, Composer and musical producer Slavko Avsenik jr., Artistic director, producer and solo violinist Benjamin Izmajlov

Slavic Soul includes the most beautiful music themes from 8 countries. Songs are traditional, classical and popular, all in new arrangemets.

Private life

Manca Izmajlova is married to a classical violinist, composer, conductor and producer Benjamin Izmajlov (since 2002). They have one daughter, Izabela (2007). Manca often states that family is the most important thing in life for her.

External links

Manca Izmajlova's website - http://www.mancaizmajlova.com/en

Slavic Diva promo movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhkYEcy6IEg

Those Were The Days - Dorogoj dlinnoju: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd5q1Ioo588

Chopin - Etude No.3 Tristesse - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83AwKedowDU

References


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