From jazz and pop to the influence of Karen Edwards, the vocalist joins La Dolce Vita at Ca’ Sagredo during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival
VENICE, SEPTEMBER 2026
For Rezeda Kalimullina, music has never been limited to a single genre. Across 25 years on stage, she has built her artistic identity between soul, jazz and pop, with a performance style based less on theatrical distance and more on an immediate emotional relationship with the audience. On 11 September, that voice will arrive in Venice as Kalimullina joins the musical programme of La Dolce Vita, an international evening presented by the Royal Gentlemen Club and Congress Awards at Ca’ Sagredo during the closing days of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.
One of the important influences on Kalimullina’s artistic development has been Karen Edwards, the multiple Grammy-nominated American vocalist, pianist and composer whose career has included performances with Stevie Wonder, Prince and Tony Bennett. The connection placed Kalimullina close to an American musical tradition in which technical ability is only part of what makes a performer memorable. Soul, improvisation, personality and the ability to communicate directly with a room are equally important. That philosophy can be heard in the way Kalimullina moves naturally between jazz, soul and contemporary popular music.
Venice gives that musical language an unexpected setting. During the International Film Festival, the city becomes a temporary meeting point for cinema, fashion, media, culture and international society. Music has always played its own role in this world. A film can become inseparable from a single song, a voice or a score, while many of cinema’s most memorable moments exist precisely because music transforms an image into an emotion. Bringing a soul and jazz vocalist into this environment creates a different conversation from a traditional gala concert.
La Dolce Vita has deliberately been built around those contrasts. Kalimullina will share the musical programme with award-winning soprano Alina Zamalieva, whose career represents a very different European vocal tradition. Recipient of more than 15 honours, Zamalieva became a laureate of the Covent Garden Opera Competition with the London City Philharmonic, received First Prize at the VI International Music Festival in Vienna and later won the opportunity to study at the Belcanto Academy with legendary Italian soprano Mirella Freni.
Yuri and Ksenia Wheelman will add a third musical language through Wheelman Duo. With artistic roots connected to the tradition of the Bolshoi Theatre, they have developed Lumière and their Couture Crossover approach, bringing together operatic discipline, cinematic music, contemporary sound and visual performance. Their international appearances have connected them with Monaco, Cannes, Capri and Lake Como, while their work as Art Ambassadors of Blue Alliance Monaco extends into Echo of the Ocean, a project combining music, visual imagery, artificial intelligence and ocean protection.
This means that the evening will not attempt to make three very different artists sound alike. Zamalieva brings opera, Wheelman Duo creates crossover and Kalimullina brings the freedom and directness of soul, jazz and pop. The contrast is the programme.
Outside the musical stage, another international cast will shape the evening. Eric Adams, who served as the 110th Mayor of New York City from 2022 to 2025, will be among the honoured guests. Monaco will be represented by Laurent Anselmi, President of the Monaco Sea Academy, who previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and later as Chief of Staff to H.S.H. Prince Albert II. Egyptian actress Caroline Azmi will bring contemporary Arab cinema and television into the guest circle.
Italian beauty executive Massimiliano Giobergia, General Manager of Cosmetic Tailors, the principal private-label division of BEAUTICON VALLEY, will join Lidia Weber, Director of Special Projects at Oliver Weber Collection. The Austrian jewellery house is Official Jewellery Partner of La Dolce Vita and will present its Dolce Vita Collection with Swarovski crystals in Venice. Alisa Roever, founder of Angels Helpers Foundation, will represent philanthropy, while Al Kash will bring his international experience across media, entertainment, publishing, talent and luxury events.
The choice of Ca’ Sagredo changes the character of the performance as well. Kalimullina will not appear in a conventional concert venue. The evening takes place inside a centuries-old palace directly on the Grand Canal, recognised as a National Monument, where frescoes, historic salons and the monumental staircase create an atmosphere closer to an inhabited work of art. Soul and jazz entering this environment produce precisely the kind of unexpected contrast that La Dolce Vita is designed to explore.
The project brings together two international networks. Thomas Misse and Marek Harmony represent the Royal Gentlemen Club, while Anna Stukkert brings the Congress Awards, developed from the International Investment Congress. Since 2016, its events in Munich, Berlin, Monaco, Paris, Cannes and Davos have connected more than 4,000 participants from 29 countries.
For Rezeda Kalimullina, however, the most important element on 11 September will remain remarkably simple. After 25 years of performing, Venice offers a new room, a new audience and a new emotional encounter. Surrounded by cinema, opera, diplomacy and international society, she will bring something that cannot be created by architecture or protocol alone. A live voice and the ability to make a room feel it.
LA DOLCE VITA IN VENICE
Royal Gentlemen Gala Dinner and Congress Awards will take place on Friday, 11 September 2026 at Ca’ Sagredo on the Grand Canal. The evening begins at 6.30 pm and is presented by Thomas Misse and Marek Harmony of the Royal Gentlemen Club together with Anna Stukkert, founder and president of the Congress Awards.
Official Jewellery Partner Oliver Weber Collection
Dress Code Black Tie
Official event and tickets
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