MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Rachmaninov: Songs

Viktoriya Dodoka began her musical training in her home city Krasnodar near the Black Sea, later graduating in singing from the Tchaikovsky State Conservatoire in Moscow.

She performed lead roles in a number of productions for Moscow Opera, among them Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Violetta in La Traviata, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakoff's The Tsar's Bride. She sang solo soprano with the Stuttgart Bach Academy Choir in concert performances of Bach's Magnificat, Hendel's Nelson Mass and Mozart's Requiem.

In 1996 she won a prestigious honor diploma at the First International Singing Competition at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre.

Viktoriya immigrated to New Zealand in 2001. She made her New Zealand debut soon after, singing the roles of Olympia /Antonia in Canterbury Opera's production of The Tales of Hoffman.

Iola Shelley - Piano
Welsh-born Iola Shelley was educated in UK and enjoyed a remarkable career as a solo pianist, becoming the youngest student to be awarded Piano Performance Diplomas at both the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, London.

In New Zealand, she changed her specialisation to chamber music and accompanying, becoming a founding member of the Camerata Chamber group. In addition to teaching advanced students she became an international examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music.

She has an extensive repertoire and an international reputation as a chamber-music pianist and accompanist.