Before becoming a singer, Mariana Bodnar studied at the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" in Kyiv and received a master's degree in cultural studies. She worked in international journalism on leading Ukrainian TV channels, in the Information Service of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, which she later decided to leave for the sake of music and the stage.
In 2008, Mariana was accepted to the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Rome, where she studied baroque singing with Sara Mingardo and took vocal technique lessons in the class of Valentina Maraffa and Anna Vandi. During her studies, she was selected as an active participant in master classes with such performers as Edda Moser, Mariella Devia and Daniela Dessi, Inés Salazar and Eva Iżykowska and the famous director Renzo Giacchieri. In 2009, she won the 2nd prize at the 7th A.Gi.Mus International Competition of Performers and was invited to sing her first solo concerts in Italy and abroad. In Italy, she participated in the opera laboratory of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory and a series of small opera productions (Micaela, Bizet's Carmen, Zerlina, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Musetta, Puccini's La Bohème).
