Olena Tokar

Olena Mykolajiwna Tokar (Олена Миколаївна Токар; born 21 June 1987) is a Ukrainian operatic lyric soprano. She has been a member of the Oper Leipzig since 2010, and has appeared in Europe including at the Verbier Festival as Puccini's Mimì, at the Vilnius Opera as Gounod's Marguerite, as Verdi's "La traviata" at the Trondheim Opera, and as Gounod's Juliette at the Grange Park Opera. She recorded a collection of art songs by women composers including Clara Schumann and Vítězslava Kaprálová, with pianist Igor Gryshyn.
Life and career.
Born in Novotoshkivske, Luhansk Oblast, Tokar studied voice from 2002 to 2006 at the College of Arts and Culture in Luhansk (Ukraine), then at the Kyiv Conservatory in the class of S. P. Busina and E. H. Kolosova. From 2010, she continued her studies at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig with Regina Werner-Dietrich. In 2011, Tokar took part in the of the Salzburg Festival, taking master classes with Ileana Cotrubaș, Christa Ludwig, Alfred Brendel and Michael Schade. In 2012, she achieved 1st Prize at the ARD International Music Competition.
Tokar has been a member of the ensemble of the Oper Leipzig, a junior member in the 2009/10 season, and then a full member. She appeared there as Antigona in Handel's "Admeto", Pamina in Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte", Micaëla in Bizet's "Carmen", Mariana in Wagner's "Das Liebesverbot" and Gretel in Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel". In 2016, she added Zdenka in "Arabella" by Richard Strauss, Liù in Puccini's "Turandot" and Susanna in Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" to her repertoire. She appeared as Rusalka in Dvorak's "Rusalka" and as Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss.
Tokar has performed as a guest, as Mimì in Puccini's "La Bohème" at the Verbier Festival in 2015, and as Marguerite in Gounod's "Faust" at the Semperoper in Dresden in 2016. She first appeared at the Vilnius Opera in 2017 as Marguerite, and performed the title role of Verdi's "La traviata" at the Trondheim Opera in 2018. She appeared as Juliette in Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" at the Grange Park Opera in 2018.
Recording.
Tokar's recordings include a collection of art songs by women composers, titled "Charmes", with works by Alma Mahler-Werfel, Clara Schumann, Pauline Viardot-Garcia and Vítězslava Kaprálová, accompanied by pianist Igor Gryshyn.