Nostalgia and Love Songs

Kat Skafidas (soprano), Kyle Seniw (tenor), and Cynthia Bromka-Skafidas (piano) present a lovely set of songs from the Romantic period through the modern day.

Program
Ravel: Mélodies populaires grecques (1906) M.A.11
Chopin-Viardot: selections from 12 Mazurkas de Frédéric Chopin (1864)
Draper: O sea-starved, hungry sea (2017)
Schumann: selections from Gedichte aus ‘Liebesfrühling’ (1840), Op.37
Schumann: Vier Duette (1849), Op. 78

Katerina Skafidas is currently a Boston-based soprano from Syracuse, New York. Immersed in opera, she’s well-versed across genres: early, new, chamber music, and musical theater. She earned her graduate degree in voice and opera studies, with a concentration in voice pedagogy from the New England Conservatory (M.M. ’22). She graduated summa cum laude from the Setnor School of Music (B.M. ’20) at Syracuse University, and studied with Janet Brown. Recently, Kat won the 2022 Seattle District round of the Metropolitan Opera Competition and competed in the 2023 Northwestern Regional round. In Central NY, she’s engaged professionally with Syracuse Opera, Society for New Music, Syracuse Shakespeare Festival, and Civic Morning Musicals. In the Boston area, she teaches and sings with Whole Tone Music Academy, a collective of teaching artists in Somerville. She also sings with the professional chamber choir, Carduus, and the evensong choir, Lux Arcana. She sang for the preview, studio recording, and premiere (2022) of Linda Chase’s oratorio for climate change, Laudato Sì: For Our Common Home. She has also been collaborating with her voice teacher, Jane Eaglen, in administrating the Boston Wagner Society and Boston Wagner Institute. She can regularly be heard at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Milton, where she sings on the schola cantorum and is also currently an interim co-music director with her partner, Kyle Seniw.

Kyle Seniw is a tenor from Albany, NY. Mr. Seniw holds degrees in vocal performance from both Syracuse University (B.M.) and Boston Conservatory at Berklee (M.M.). During his undergraduate career, he sang in the Syracuse Opera chorus. Currently, Mr. Seniw can be heard singing around the Boston area with the choir Carduus which performs works by primarily contemporary and living composers. He can also be observed singing in and directing the choir at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Milton. While Mr. Seniw is not singing, he volunteers for the Boston Wagner Society, helping set up events and operating the live stream.

Cynthia Bromka-Skafidas holds piano performance degrees from Syracuse University (B.M.) and the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (M.M.). She has taught private piano lessons in the Syracuse area for many years. As a piano and harpsichord soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in Athens, Greece, and Baltimore, as well as locally at venues and festivals such as Civic Morning Musicals, Liverpool Arts Alive, Society for New Music, Lorenzo, and other historic sites in Central New York. She is also the Organist at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church and serves as an occasional accompanist at Pope John XXIII Church and the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University. Cynthia is also employed in administration at the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

This recital is graciously sponsored by Kathleen Roland-Silverstein.

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