Alina Raskin-Badalyan

 

With a musical background encompassing both instrumental and vocal performance, soprano Alina Raskin-Badalyan brings breadth, sensitivity, and a strong awareness of cultural tradition to her work. Born and educated in Armenia, she began her musical studies as a violinist. While attending music college, she performed in a string quartet chosen to appear at official events hosted by government ministries in Armenia. She later graduated from the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan in violin performance and returned to the Conservatory to pursue vocal studies. Her early professional career included performing as a violinist in a musical theatre orchestra and with Flute, an eight-member chamber ensemble featuring both classical and traditional instruments.

 

Her experience as an instrumentalist shaped her understanding of musical structure, ensemble, and interpretation, and continues to inform her work as a singer. Alina has presented concert programs in Canada, Germany, and Israel. She is a prize winner of the NATS Vocal Competition. Her recording work includes Lullabies of Jerusalem, a cross-cultural project devoted to the three major faith traditions of Jerusalem: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Through her performance of Armenian lullabies, Alina represented the Armenian Christian musical tradition and shared its rich heritage with an international audience.

 

Alina is the creator of Classical Elegance, a concert project founded on her belief that music offers a meaningful way to understand the cultural diversity of our world. Through thoughtfully selected repertoire, she invites audiences on a musical journey across countries, eras, and traditions. Her programs honour the distinctive character of each musical culture while revealing the emotions and experiences that connect people across cultural boundaries. Alongside her concert work, Alina founded Raskin School of Music in Canada, where she brings her broad musical experience and commitment to cultural understanding to a new generation of musicians.

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Sergei Saratovsky

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A winner of numerous awards including the First Place at the Porto International Piano Competition and the prize for Best Canadian Artist at the Montréal International Musical Competition, Sergei Saratovsky is recognized both in Canada and abroad as “a player of gargantuan proportions” and a “pianiste extraordinaire.” This exceptional and versatile performer has a gift to take audience on a breathtaking voyage through the essence of music to the essence of beauty. The artist touches listeners with the sensitivity of his interpretations and impressive technique; his energy, focus and musicianship blend into a spectacular tour de force in performance. 

 

Sergei Saratovsky has performed for audiences in Russia, Europe, Australia, and North America, and has been the featured artist on radio and television broadcasts aired across the world. His concert engagements have included appearances with the European, Canadian, and Russian orchestras such as State Symphony Orchestra of Karelia, Portugal National and Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

 

His fascination with chamber music has led the artist to establish a four-hand piano duo with his younger brother Nikolai Saratovsky, an internationally acclaimed pianist (Moscow-Taipei). Their dynamic ensemble has performed in Russia and completed three concert tours of British Columbia.  

 

In addition to his performing career, Saratovsky enjoys giving master classes and is in demand as a guest clinician and jury member of international and national competitions and festivals. After the completion of the doctoral studies, he has continued his scholarly research activities through journal publications and participation in the international conferences. Currently, Saratovsky mentors and guides the advanced students in their musical studies at the VSO School of Music.    

 

Sergei Saratovsky was born in a family of musicians in Karelia, Russia. He received his university education at the Petrozavodsk State Conservatory of Music, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance in 2004. Saratovsky became a resident of Canada in 2002. He completed a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance with Alexander Tselyakov at Brandon University, where in 2006 he received the gold medal for academic excellence and graduated with Greatest Distinction. In 2012, Sergei Saratovsky was granted the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of British Columbia where he had studied with Jane Coop.