April 22, 2022
By Caroline Savoie Staff Writer
At the onset of the war in Ukraine, Natalia Turchin, a 26-year-old Southeastern Louisiana University student from Moldova, sent overseas all the money she had saved to help her parents and grandparents survive. She planned to use the funds to pay for a five-week international opera program in Italy this summer, but Russia’s invasion drained her accounts. Now, she’s holding benefit concerts to support her admission to the program. Turchin came from the Republic of Moldova, which borders southwestern Ukraine, to the U.S. to pursue her dream of becoming an opera singer.
Turchin said her family took up agricultural trades like farming and exporting foods, but when she was a child, she woke up one morning from a dream in which she stood on a stage in a voluminous ball gown performing opera. She enrolled in music schools, and when she was 12 years old she won an international competition.
“It was magic for me,” Turchin said. “I was ready to sacrifice anything to have a life of opera.”
She got a degree in conducting music, and when another international student saw her sing through a video on Instagram, she contacted Turchin to come to Hammond.
While working on her master’s degree in vocal performance in Hammond during her first year of living in the states, thousands of miles away from her home and family, Turchin was accepted by La Musica Lirica, an international opera festival for vocalists. “This is an exciting opportunity in my career as an opera singer,” she said.
The program takes place in a “picturesque” Italian city, Novafeltria, in the Marches region from June 18 to July 22, allowing Turchin to work with nationally and internationally recognized musicians. During the first four weeks of the program, Turchin will get Italian lessons, coaching, and voice lessons with professional musicians in her field. She will participate in the opera division as Elvira in ‘L’Italiana in Algeri,’ an opera by G. Rossini, a production fully staged and performed with the professional symphony orchestra from Ravenna, Italy.
“My primary goals are to achieve new knowledge, perform in my first full staged opera production and acquire new relationships with my fellow colleagues,” Turchin said.
The program comes with a price tag of $8,300, which includes tuition, transportation, room and board. Turchin set up a GoFundMe to defray some of the expenses, and as La Musica Lirica is a tax-exempt charitable educational institution, all donations are tax-deductible. “I believe supporting each other is the most beautiful gesture possible for humanity,” she said.
Turchin said her father runs an exporting business in Moldova, and the supply chain he used to export goods was stopped at the border after the war started. She said Moldova is safe right now, but the country does not have a military or protections from the European Union and NATO. “Before the war, my parents were planning to help me, but when the war started, his business had to stop,” Turchin said. “I gave all the money I had saved to my parents back in Moldova.”
The benefit concerts she will hold in Hammond will financially support her growth as a vocalist, she said. “I’m doing everything possible to not lose the chance to be a part of this program,” she said. “I try to stay positive and not bring my personal stresses into the situation.” Turchin’s first benefit concert is Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m. at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, 100 W. Church St. in Hammond. On Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m., she will host her second concert at Covington First United Methodist Church, 203 N. Jefferson Avenue. Her third and final concert is on Saturday, May 7, at 2 p.m. at First Christian Church in the Reimers Auditorium at 305 E. Charles St., Hammond.
Her performances will include works by Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Schumann, D. Moore and Rachmaninoff. Dr. Lilia Oliinyk and Dr. Irina Cunev will accompany her on piano.
Turchin’s GoFundMe is at https://gofund.me/a1d6ad1e
