EKATERINA SHELEHOVA
SOPRANO COLORATURA
Ekaterina Shelehova ( Chelekhova ) began studying music when she was 3 years old. She recorded her first children’s song album at the age of 4, and began performing on stage the same year.
Growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, she participated in many competitions and concerts, such as the famous Kiwanis Competition where she secured first place in 2008, 2010, and in 2012.
When she was 10 years old she took part in her first opera, “Carmen” with the children’s choir, after which she developed a love not only for singing, but for opera as well.
Over the years, she has sung with Opera Bel Canto, StageToneScape and with Opera Ontario, where she performed in many productions such as Tosca, Cavaglieria Rusticana, Traviatta, and The Magic Flute. She also participated in many musical theater productions such as Sweet Charity, Grease, and Alice in Wonderland in leading roles.
Alongside frequenting lessons at her highschool, Ekaterina studied at the Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she received her diploma for Grade 10 Vocal and frequented masterclasses with Jean MacPhail, Alexandra Pasko and David Varjabed. During the winter of 2013, she was featured on Buffallo Radio and sang the music of Rossini and Rimsky Korsakov.
The same year, she recorded her debut album MOONLIGHT- Katya, which can still be found on all streaming platforms online.
Since then she has also finished her studies in Piano, and received her diploma for ARCT in Piano Pedagogy, and received the Gold Medal for highest mark in Grade 10 voice.
In 2014, Ekaterina auditioned for the Conservatorio G.Verdi in Milan, Italy, and was admitted after being selected from more than 50 other contestants.
She has now completed her Bachelors and Masters in Opera performance with the highest honors. She has since then participated in competitions where she has come up a finalist and prize winner, such as Concorso Lirico Salvatore Licitra in 2015, Concorso Internazionale Cleto Tomba in 2016, winning the Young Opera Hope award at the Magda Olivero International Competition in 2016, and The Public Choice Award at the Giuditta Pasta Competition in 2018. In 2020 she won first place in the Offenbach online competition and the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2021.
In 2016, Ekaterina was invited to take part in the international Kostomuksha Music Festival in Russia, where she performed several solo concerts. During the same year she took part in an Improvisation Concerts Series where she created her own music and is a frequent performer at the Antonio Belloni Theater, which is very famous across Italy as one of the smallest opera houses in the world, where she has performed important roles such as Adalgisa in “Norma”, (V.Bellini) in 2017 and Rusalka in “Rusalka”, (A.Dvorak) in 2018.
In 2019 She performed the role of Zerlina from ‘Don Giovanni’ at Teatro Carcano, Milano. She was also a soloist in both Mozart’s Krönungsmesse and Requiem, as well as Stabat Mater (Pergolesi). In the same year, she traveled to China to tour with iSing Opera Academy and performed in cities such a Suzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzou. She also appeared in a mainstream tv show in Beijing, singing a Chinese folk song, performed as a guest on the show Nessun Dorma, in Italy, where she shared the stage with Ted Neely (original Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar), and sang on the show I Soliti Ignoti, also a very popular show in Italy.
During 2020 she performed in ‘L’Elisir D’Amore’ as Adina as well as participated in many online concerts during the pandemic. In February of 2021, Ekaterina performed on Italy’s Got Talent, and her very unique performance went viral on the internet, with 100million views and counting. It brought her to many new experiences, such as becoming a writer of the soundtrack for The Tempest– an Italian movie based on Shakespeare’s play. During the summer of 2021, she performed in a lead role of Despina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, which was performed in her home town, Hamilton.
Since then she has released new music on Spotify, and was featured in two songs on the album titled God Shaped Hole, by Flavio Cuccurullo. Ekaterina hopes to create and release her new album this coming year.
This coming November, Ekaterina will perform on stage as part of ERA, a very popular music group from France.
In the future, she hopes to continue her journey on the theatrical stage, as well as remaining a studio artist.
Besides singing, Ekaterina can speak fluently in 4 languages (English, Italian, Spanish, and Russian), is a former gymnast (8 years), has 5 years experience in ballet and another 2 of ballroom dancing, and is an avid fitness enthusiast. She loves studying psychology and adores animals.
