CURRENT TEACHERS:
CINZIA MANZOLI
NATIONALITY: Italian.
ACTIVITIES: Italian with style classes.
My name is Cinzia Manzoli, an expert in the Italian language and culture with a degree in Languages and Educational Sciences. I am a university professor with more than twenty-five years of teaching experience, specializing in Italian as a foreign language.
For almost fifteen years, I have been living in Abu Dhabi, where I teach Italian at the university to Arabic-speaking students. This international environment has enriched my teaching methods and strengthened my ability to connect different linguistic and cultural worlds.
My goal is to inspire excellence in learning by guiding students to discover not only the structure of the Italian language, but also the elegance, creativity, and depth of its culture. I firmly believe that teaching is not just about transmitting knowledge, but about opening minds and shaping future global citizens.
ELENA TROSHINA BASANO
NATIONALITY: Russian.
ACTIVITIES: Singing classes.
Elena Troshina Basano was born in Severodvinsk, in Northern Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, and grew up surrounded by music. Encouraged by her musical family, she began formal studies at age seven and later trained at the Arkhangelsk Music Technical College, specializing in classical vocals under Professor Nina Demidova, before continuing at the St. Petersburg Conservatory’s Petrozavodsk branch with Professor Valery Volchkov.
Her career began while still a student, when she toured internationally as lead singer of a European band, performing across Europe and the Middle East. She later collaborated with renowned musicians including Rida Zaarour, Oxana Volkova, Ziad Khouloki, Elena Karavatskaya, and Alexey Lyga. In the 1990s, while performing in Syria, she discovered jazz and fell in love with the genre, inspired by singers such as Julie London, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and Rachelle Ferrell.
After marrying Italian engineer Mauro Basano in 1998, Elena settled in the UAE and raised two daughters. She resumed her studies at the Moscow Academy of Gnesini, graduating with honors in 2005 as a professional singer and vocal teacher in pop and jazz. While teaching, she performed at jazz and blues festivals with her band North Project, recording a CD in Moscow in 2007.
In 2014 she released her first solo album Magic of Love, followed in 2015 by Home, both recorded at San Francisco’s Fantasy Studios with American jazz musicians. Today, Elena Troshina Basano continues to perform and teach, embracing classical, jazz, pop, rock, folk, and traditional Russian music, always supported by her beloved husband and daughters.
MACHA BELLOTTI
NATIONALITY: French with Russian roots.
ACTIVITY: Painting and French cuisine.
Emotions are everything, I paint everything that touches me, a landscape, a bird, a child's face. I use traditional materials , oil and brush on linen or coton canvas to capture movement and life. Find the beauty in some battered old porch ,while it still stands, or a simple flower...I try to capture its light, its uniqueness, its delicacy and strength.
My goal is to inspire those who see my work, talk to them like a book would, igniting their imagination and create emotions.