Internationally-recognised musicians Natalija Havralenko and Samuel Vincent Iervasi will perform at Mildura Art Centre’s (MAC) Backstage Pass this Friday night.
Natalija will be no stranger to regular Backstage Pass viewers, having already performed twice this year with local guitarist Penn Farmer.
She’ll return at 7pm this Friday with husband Samuel Vincent Iervasi, who locals may also be familiar with, given he was born and raised in Mildura.
Their performance will be streamed live on the MAC Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Arts and Culture Development Manager Antonette Zema said this Friday’s show was an exciting example of the musical talent in Sunraysia.
“We’re so fortunate to have artists of this calibre living in our community,” Ms Zema said.
“Many of us may have seen Natalija or Samuel performing on the national or international stage through the mountain of publicity they’re received over the years, and now we get to call them our own and appreciate their performances here in Mildura.”
Natalija Havralenko
Natalija, who grew up in Bosnia and Herzegovina and now calls Mildura home, has enjoyed a stellar international music career, performing in her first televised singing competition as a teenager.
After studying singing in Belgrade, Serbia and earning a scholarship, Natalija went on to record her first album, the first single from which debuted at number four in the Serbian pop charts, remaining in the top 10 for four months.
Her success triggered a host of concert, television and radio appearances paving the way for a wave of success including performing as a special guest at the Belgrade concert of 2007 Eurovision Song Contest winner Marija Serifovic in front of more than 15,000 people.
Other highlights include being asked to serve as a mentor of a music competition called the Austrovision Song Contest – Austria’s version of the Eurovision Song Contest – in Vienna in 2015.
Natalija recorded her first song with now-husband Samuel Vincent Iervasi in late 2015/early 2016, as well as an accompanying music video, attracting widespread reviews, resulting in dozens of television appearances, interviews and performances across Bosnia.
In March 2017 she appeared on the cover and a 12-page feature in popular artist magazine Talas.
After moving to Mildura with Samuel in 2018, Natalija published her third original song Sum It Up, which can be viewed on her YouTube channel, which now has more than 110,000 views.
In addition to continuing to perform, Natalija is a singing teacher at Trinity Lutheran College Mildura.
Samuel Vincent Iervasi
Samuel was born in Mildura in 1981 and introduced to rock music “at inception while he was still in his mother’s womb”.
He started playing guitar at six, taking influences from rock, blues, reggae, classical, jazz and psychedelic trance ahead of playing lead guitar in his first band Trepidation at 12.
It was after his parents bought him some studio equipment at 14 that Samuel started on the songwriting/producer path, on which he has built a hugely successful career.
He has recorded, written and produced with artists including David Ryan Harris (USA), Jon Stevens (Woman), Guy Sebastian (Armageddon) Heath Burdell (Madness & Meltdowns), West Was Won, Alexandria (EUR) Natalija Havralenko (EUR), Kings Queens & Fairytales, Schizophonic, Yolanda Thomas (USA), Kate DeAraugo, Željko Samardžić (EUR), Ksenija Mijatovic, Marie Wilson, Lynn Bowtell and many more.
He’s also played guitar and toured with a broad range of artists nationally and internationally including Tania Kernaghan (with the John Farnham band), Chmcl Mssngr, Jon Stevens, Guy Sebastian, Lupe Fiasco (USA), Taylor Swift (RED tour, AUS) Mick Hucknall (Simply Red), David Ryan Harris, Samantha Jade, Gary Pinto, Australia’s X Factor 2012-2015, Natalie Basingthwaighte (Rogue Traders), Swift Kid, Mahalia Barnes and Adam Brand.
Samuel is currently an engineer and producer at Vincent Studios in Sydney, as well as lead guitarist for Jon Stevens.
