Elly K

Elizaveta Igorevna Khripounova, now recording as Elizaveta, also formerly known as Elly K, is a Russian-American pianist, singer/songwriter and opera singer. Her debut full-length album Beatrix Runs was helmed by Grammy Award-winning producer Greg Wells and was digitally released on Universal Republic Records January 24, 2012 exclusively via iTunes. The album was physically released through Amazon on July 17, 2012. Also on July 17, 2012, Elizaveta released her iTunes Session EP. Available only on the iTunes Store, the six-song EP also included six videos from the recording session at the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA. It debuted in the Top 15 on the iTunes Pop Albums Chart. The videos offer an up-close-and-personal look at the songstress recording live with a string quintet. The session was produced by Michael Valerio, who also served as the music director for the project. Elizaveta re-released her newly mastered 2006 EP Breakfast With Chopin exclusively via iTunes on July 17, 2012. Biography: Elizaveta was born in New York and grew up in Moscow, Russia. She attended music school and regular school in Moscow up until the age of 15. As a teen, she left Russia for Italy on a scholarship, and stayed in Europe. She continued to study music and later also studied at the Prague Academy of Music where she took a class in opera performance and started training vocally. She learned Italian and French, while traveling and living around Europe. Later on she moved to Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Southern California with a major in opera performance. Influences: Elizaveta's classical upbringing is combined with pop songwriting in her most recent work. She claims to be have been influenced by Russian composers, Bach, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Nina Simone, Queen and Elton John. There are also elements of electronica in her songs and operatic parts. Elizaveta produces her own vocal arrangements, which are a prominent part of her sound. The artist names Maria Callas, Edith Piaf and Grace Jones as influences. She also does live vocal and keyboard looping on-stage and plays acoustic and electric guitars. Early Years: Elizaveta was born in New York to Russian parents, temporarily stationed in New York and working for United Nations. Her father, Igor Khripunov, became an international diplomat and security expert in the field of weapons of mass destruction. Her mother is an interior decorator, who still resides in Moscow. She grew up in Moscow, playing her grandparents' piano and started writing poems and songs at the age of five. Her formal musical training started at the age of eight, and included special public performances, where she improvised pieces on-stage.

Source: Wikipedia

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