In the beginning (that would be last night), there was this item on
http://www.sfcv.org/arts_revs/music_news_9_23_03.php:

<<Nikitenko: Cover Singer's Star Turn
"42nd Street" is playing a few blocks away, at the Golden Gate Theater,
but its core fantasy, of the understudy saving the show, played out in
real life in the War Memorial Opera House. At the Saturday performance of
"The Magic Flute," Suzanne Ramo, in the role of the Queen of the Night,
sang her first aria with less secure high notes than she had at previous
performances, but then felt she couldn't go on. Svetlana Nikitenko, a 1998
Merola participant from Kiev, went on and hit the high F square on the
note in the Queen's second aria. Improperly but understandably, applause
broke out in the house even before the aria ended.

A highlight of Nikitenko's Merola year was working with Joan Sutherland at
a public master class, when "La Stupenda" corrected the young singer's
breathing by pressing down on her stomach, showing "in real time" where
the air should go and where it should be held in reserve. Clearly worried,
Nikitenko asked: "But when I do run out of air, what can I do?" The
no-nonsense Sutherland replied: "Not much."

Sutherland went on to suggest taking a quick ("but not loud") breath even
if the music didn't allow it. "It's a sneaky profession," she said,
stupendously. Her young charge breezed through "Die Holle Rache" on
Saturday as if she had all the reserve air in the world. >>

By this morning, however, I got more of the story, really in-depth,
"everything you ever wanted to know," including a fun bit about a previous
"Flute" when Ramo was Nikitenko's cover:

<<Dear Janos, thank you very much for  your article. I'm Svetlana's
husband and manager, and just want to give you some info on her, in case
you write about her again. She is actually from St. Petersburg, she only
studied in Kiev Conservatory. She was invited to join St.Petersburg's
Mussorgsky Theatre even before graduation (they allowed her to graduate in
a hurry), sang leading roles like Violetta, Gilda, Queen of Shemakhan ("Le
coq d'Or"). She sang (with the theater) in Palermo, Paris, Athens and NY
City Opera. Then she auditioned for Valery Gergiev, he offered to her to
sing Queen of the Night in the first German language production in the
USSR (they invited director and conductor from East Germany). She did very
well (though, now she can't stand that recording).

Ten years ago she came to New York and decided to stay. She stayed at her
voice teacher's  apartment making a living as a cleaning lady.Then she met
Licia Albanese who coached Svetlana for almost two years, was very high
opinion of her. In 1994 Svetlana telephoned me and asked me if I would
become her manager (I've been managing Russian artists since 1991), she
sent me her demo tapes. I was very impressed with her Violetta (in
Russian, of course) and agreed to represent her, organized the audition
for the Met. We had a phone relationship for almost a year, then I bought
her a ticket and she came to SF, she sang for Lotfi. To make a long story
a bit shorter, we got married in the end of 1994, our son David was born
in 1995, so she ended up having a family but no career.

Well, little but little she got back to singing: concerts, roles with the
regional companies like Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, North Bay Opera,
sang under Kent Nagano, gave concerts in LA, San Diego, Chicago. In 1998
she sang the Queen while in Merola (Ramo was her cover), became a regional
finalist of the Met auditions. She expanded her repertoire, sang Gilda,
Antonia, Mimi etc. Earlier this year she sang the Queen with Opera San
Jose (7 performances) with tremendous success. The SFOpera cover
assignment is not her first engagement - she covered Anna Netrebko in the
"Tsars' bride" few years ago.

Now our son is 8 years old, so she is getting ready to resume her career.
I'm in the process of arranging the engagements in Moscow (Bol'shoi
Theatre debut + a recital at the Tchaikovsky Hall), auditions in Austria,
Germany, France and Spain. I believe that Saturday night audience got so
excited not only because of the drama of the situation but also because
they finally heard the real thing - a true dramatic coloratura. I took
Svetlana over 15 years of hard work to develop sufficient technic to sing
this particular role. Yes, she was born with the ability to sing extremely
high pitches (she can sing high "G"), but only NOW she feels confident.


She found out that she would have to go on stage almost in the middle of
the intermission. She never rehearsed on that stage, never rehearsed with
the (SFO) orchestra. That day she was cleaning the house, teaching 4
students, did shopping, helped David with his homework, had only light
breakfast. We live in Fairfield, so she drove 50 miles in heavy traffic.
And, she still did it well!>>

Rather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]