Oksana Sitnitska
Mezzo-soprano
Oksana Sitnitska was born and raised in Ternopol, Ukraine. She comes from quite a colorful background. Her father, Nikola Manzhaj is a Romanian gypsy and earned his living as a traveling professional violinist as did her grandfather. Her mother, Olga Manzhaj, was a singer with the National Folk Ensemble in the former Soviet Republic and she graduated from State University in the Ukraine as a mathematician. She still teaches math at the State College in the Ukraine, and continues to sing as a soloist with National Folk Ensemble. Ms Sitnitska has one sister, Victoria, now an assistant director at the Music College in the Ukraine.
At age of 7, Oksana was accepted to the Music School in Krementz into the class of Bandura (Folk Ukrainian stringed instrument), voice and piano. She walked seven miles, four times a week with her father, in the snow (no cars, no transportations) to attend school. From 1986 to 1990, this gifted student continued her musical education at the State Music College in Ternopol’ focusing on orchestral conducting, the bandura and voice. She graduated with an Honor's Diploma as a Vocal Instructor.
From 1990 to 1997, she studied in the voice department at the State Music Academy of L'viv with professor Igor Kushpler. He now teaches Vocal Arts at the Hamburg Academy in Germany. Oksana obtained her BM in Vocal Arts, graduating with Honors and began her career as an opera singer, chamber singer and coach of vocal arts.
Prior to her arrival in the United States, Ms Sitnitska worked as a permanent soloist at the State Opera House of L'viv from 1996 to 2004. In her capacity as a part of the permanent core of solo artists, she was obliged to sing many of the standard mezzo roles including Olga in Eugene Onegin, the title role in Carmen, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Amneris in Aida, Fenena in Nabucco, Flora in La Traviata, Maddalena in Rigoletto and many others.
She has appeared with such notable artists as baritone Stephan Pjatnichko, Canadian tenor Louis Langelier, soprano Victoria Lukjanets, Vladimir Grishko, tenor and baritone Andrej Shkurgan.
Ms Sitnitska is a winner of two vocalcompetitions. In 1999, she was awarded Grand Prix at Wagnerian International Vocal Competition; as a winner she was invited to Beirut, Lebanon, to participate in their production of Carmen singing the title role. The critical acclaim was outstanding. Also in 1999, she was awarded the III Prize at the Lucia Popp, the International Vocal Competition in Bratislava, Slovakia. This resulted in an invitation to participate in productions of Aida and Nabucco in Austria and in Germany. She also performed Nabucco at the castle of Kufstein, Austria, surrounded by snowy mountains, with an audience of three thousand people.
In 2000, Oksana was accepted to graduate school at Dresden Hochschule (music school) in Germany, into the studio of Maestro Elsner. Also in that same year, she attended the Music Institute in Baden-Baden, Austria, studying with Dr. Eva Blagova.
From 2000 to 2003, she held the position as Professor of Vocal Arts at the State Music Academy in L'viv, Ukraine. During that same time, she was also under contract with an Austrian management company and performed with many European opera companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Lebanon.
In mid-2004, Ms Sitnitska was fortunate to become a permanent resident of the United States and is looking forward to expanding her career now in this country. She makes her U. S. debut with Sacramento Opera in the role of Amneris, November 2006.