The award-winning soprano will take centre stage at Ca’ Sagredo alongside an international circle including Eric Adams, Laurent Anselmi and Caroline Azmi
VENICE, ITALY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2026
For Alina Zamalieva, Venice arrives at an important moment in a career built between opera houses, international competitions and some of Europe’s most distinguished concert stages. Recipient of more than 15 awards, the soprano became a laureate of the Covent Garden Opera Competition in collaboration with the London City Philharmonic and received First Prize at the VI International Music Festival in Vienna. A graduate of the Zhiganov State Conservatory in Kazan, she became a soloist of the Tukai State Philharmonic while still a student, was later recognised at the Irina Bogacheva Competition in St. Petersburg and received an invitation to masterclasses with Professor Bazzoni Bartoli in Switzerland. One of the defining chapters of her artistic development followed when she won the opportunity to study at the Belcanto Academy with legendary Italian soprano Mirella Freni, whose fifty-year career included La Scala, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera.
Zamalieva’s own repertoire has continued to grow across European stages. Recent seasons have included Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Vienna Opera Festival, the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna, appearances at Teatro Verdi in Busseto, the Yehudi Menuhin Forum in Switzerland, Smetana Hall in Prague and performances with the Czech Symphony Orchestra. Her career has also reached audiences far beyond traditional opera houses through television and live broadcasts. This ability to move between the discipline of classical opera and a contemporary international audience gives her appearance at La Dolce Vita particular resonance.
Venice is a natural setting for that story. Long before cinema arrived on the Lido, the city helped transform opera into a public cultural phenomenon. Today, during the Venice International Film Festival, music and cinema again exist unusually close to one another. Film stars, directors, international media, producers, patrons and cultural figures converge on the city, while music remains inseparable from the emotional language of cinema itself. For an opera singer, performing in Venice during this period means entering a cultural environment where voice, image, theatre and international visibility naturally meet.
On 11 September, Zamalieva will become the classical voice of La Dolce Vita inside Ca’ Sagredo, the historic Grand Canal palace recognised as a National Monument. The setting is deliberately theatrical. Frescoed salons, monumental architecture and centuries of Venetian art will replace the conventional concert hall, allowing the performance to become part of the palace itself.
The musical programme will then move in entirely different directions. Yuri and Ksenia Wheelman will present Wheelman Duo and Couture Crossover, their artistic language combining powerful voices, cinematic music, contemporary sound, movement and visual storytelling. Their creative partnership began at the Bolshoi Theatre and has developed into performances at international events from Monte-Carlo to Cannes. As Art Ambassadors of Blue Alliance Monaco, they are also developing Echo of the Ocean, connecting music, visual imagery, artificial intelligence and ocean protection.
Rezeda Kalimullina will introduce another musical character through soul, jazz and pop. With 25 years of stage experience, she is known for combining vocal power with an immediate emotional relationship with the audience. Her artistic development has included mentorship from multiple Grammy-nominated American vocalist, pianist and composer Karen Edwards, whose career has included performances with Stevie Wonder, Prince and Tony Bennett.
The artists will perform before a guest circle extending far beyond music. Eric Adams, the 110th Mayor of New York City from 2022 to 2025, will be joined by Laurent Anselmi, President of the Monaco Sea Academy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and later Chief of Staff to H.S.H. Prince Albert II. Egyptian actress Caroline Azmi will represent contemporary cinema and television, while Italy’s international beauty industry will be represented by Massimiliano Giobergia, General Manager of Cosmetic Tailors, the principal private-label division of BEAUTICON VALLEY.
Lidia Weber, Director of Special Projects at Oliver Weber Collection, will represent the Austrian jewellery house as Official Jewellery Partner and introduce its Dolce Vita Collection created with Swarovski crystals. Alisa Roever, founder of Angels Helpers Foundation, will bring philanthropy into the international circle, while Al Kash will represent media, publishing, entertainment, talent management and luxury events through his network of international projects.
This unusual combination is central to the idea created by Thomas Misse and Marek Harmony of the Royal Gentlemen Club together with Anna Stukkert, founder and president of the Congress Awards. Their intention is not to build another conventional concert or another large festival reception. Music is placed directly among diplomacy, cinema, entrepreneurship, philanthropy and international society, allowing artists and guests who might otherwise inhabit completely different professional worlds to meet in the same rooms.
The Congress Awards adds a decade of international history to that concept. Developed through the International Investment Congress, its events have taken place in Munich, Berlin, Monaco, Paris, Cannes and Davos and have connected more than 4,000 participants from 29 countries since 2016. Its 20th edition was celebrated in Cannes in 2026.
For Zamalieva, Venice therefore becomes more than another destination on an international performance calendar. It places an operatic voice shaped by competition victories, European stages and the tradition of Mirella Freni before an audience drawn from cinema, diplomacy, business and international culture. In a city that has spent centuries turning performance into spectacle, the soprano will bring the oldest instrument of all back to the centre of attention, the human voice.
ROYAL GENTLEMEN GALA DINNER AND CONGRESS AWARDS
Friday, 11 September 2026 | 6.30 pm | Ca’ Sagredo Hotel, Venice | Black Tie
https://royalgentlemen.fr/products/untitled-jul27_20-04-57
Royal Gentlemen Club | Thomas Misse and Marek Harmony | Congress Awards founded by Anna Stukkert | Official Jewellery Partner Oliver Weber Collection
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