Who I am?

Hello everyone! My name is Ekaterina Kardakova. I am an opera singer, vocal and presentation coach, but also a Creative TechLab Founder

Since childhood I have loved music. When I was little I had a piano for kids and really liked the tones which came out of it. At the age of 5 I said to my parents that I wanted to learn the piano. They were surprised because we didn’t have musicians in our family, but they took me to the music school where I started my music education.

My fantastic music teachers noticed early that I had a talent for music. They challenged and supported me a lot, and from 10 years old I won many competitions as a pianist and a singer. Since then I had a dream: I wanted to study in the best music college of Russia. This dream came true, and when I was 15, I moved to Moscow to learn from the best Russian experts of music. Then I’ve got an opportunity to continue my studies in Germany, in the university in Hanover.

During my study I’ve been working a lot. It was not always easy to study and to have 3 jobs, but now I’m grateful for this experience. I was working as an interpreter (my knowledge in English, German, Russian and Italian helped me a lot), was working in a team and we organized drama festivals and different concerts, I was working as a receptionist in a hotel, and learnt how the advertising agency and PR business work.

And of course I sang a lot! That was my biggest dream at that time to become an opera singer in the best opera theaters of the world! I was singing at Rheinsberger Festspiele, Vossa Jazz festival, I was participating in the reality show “Carmen” on German-French television ARTE.

I was working with Christa Ludwig, Grace Bumbry, Barbara Bonney, and Mirella Freni. Later on signora Freni invited me to her Accademia di Belcanto di Mirella Freni where I studied opera singing.

That was fantastic 2 years in Italy. I learnt more about Italian opera and cultural traditions, sang in many theaters, ate delicious food and enjoyed La Bella Vita. Then I got a job in the opera theatre in Magdeburg and came back to Germany.

I don’t like to remember that time in Magdeburg. My vision of being an artist and the reality were too far away from each other. That was hard. After 2 seasons I escaped to Lugano in Switzerland where I studied Performance.   

One day I got a call: “Katerina, there is an audition for Donna Anna. Do you want to participate?” Of course I wanted to! I was running to the audition without a concert dress and big preparation. When I sang the aria I heard: “Signora Kardakova, you’ve got this role”. I was so happy! Then I discovered that this is production of Don Giovanni by Mozart with LA SCALA! It’s a dream of all opera singers in the world to sing with La Scala!

That was an amazing experience with La Scala! Genius musicians, fantastic costumes and stage decoration, everything was fantastic! But my inner voice told me determinedly: I won’t sing in the opera anymore… Never ever! Basta. Finito. The curtain is dropped. 

I moved back to Germany and studied pedagogy in the university in Mannheim. This degree opened many doors. During my study I got a job as a teacher in the Abendakademie, was doing music therapy sessions, organized concerts and worked one season as an assistant of the vice president of the opera festival Bad Wildbad where I learnt the whole kitchen of opera festival production from administrative work to finances and negotiations with sponsors and agents. 

At that time I started to think that I would like to create a new educational method or a platform. That’s how Creative TechLab was born. The project which combines music and creativity with modern technologies. In 2018 I got a grant from the land of Bavaria for developing digital education in Munich. That was a nice experience! 

Also since my student times in Hanover I did workshops for voice and performance training. I always liked it. This knowledge and my stage experiences I put into the project Voice&Leadership. Now my clients are Mannheim Business School, TE Connectivity, SAP, Russian Startup platform Websarafan, and online school Skillarate. The geography of my clients is impressive: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Norway, Finland and Turkey. 

Let’s see where life will bring me...