Olga Borodina |
Olga Borodina
Russian opera singer, mezzo-soprano. People’s Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize.
Olga Vladimirovna Borodina was born on July 29, 1963, in St. Petersburg. Father – Borodin Vladimir Nikolaevich (1938-1996). Mother – Borodina Galina Fedorovna. She studied at the Leningrad Conservatory in the class of Irina Bogacheva. In 1986, she became the winner of the I All-Russian Vocal Competition, and a year later she took part in the XII All-Union Competition for Young Vocalists named after M. I. Glinka and received the first prize.
Since 1987 – in the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, the debut role in the theater was the role of Siebel in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod.
Subsequently, on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater she sang the parts of Marfa in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina, Lyubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Polina and Milovzor in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Konchakovna in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Helen Kuragina in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Marina Mnishek in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, it has been in demand on the stages of the best theaters in the world – the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, the San Francisco Opera, La Scala. She has worked with many outstanding conductors of our time: in addition to Valery Gergiev, with Bernard Haitink, Colin Davis, Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine.
Olga Borodina is a laureate of many prestigious international competitions. Among them is the vocal competition. Rosa Ponselle (New York) and the Francisco Viñas International Competition (Barcelona), winning critical acclaim in Europe and the United States. Olga Borodina’s international fame also began with her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Samson and Delilah, 1992), after which the singer took her rightful place among the most outstanding singers of our time and began to appear on the stages of all major theaters in the world.
After her debut at Covent Garden, Olga Borodina performed on the stage of this theater in the performances of Cinderella, The Condemnation of Faust, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. First performing at the San Francisco Opera in 1995 (Cinderella), she later performed the parts of Lyubasha (The Tsar’s Bride), Delilah (Samson and Delilah) and Carmen (Carmen) on its stage. In 1997, the singer made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Marina Mnishek, Boris Godunov), on the stage of which she sings her best parts: Amneris in Aida, Polina in The Queen of Spades, Carmen in the opera of the same name by Bizet, Isabella in “Italian in Algiers” and Delilah in “Samson and Delilah”. At the performance of the last opera, which opened the 1998-1999 season at the Metropolitan Opera, Olga Borodina performed together with Plácido Domingo (conductor James Levine). Olga Borodina also performs on the stages of the Washington Opera House and Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 1999, she performed for the first time at La Scala (Adrienne Lecouvrere), and later, in 2002, she performed the part of Delilah (Samson and Delilah) on this stage. At the Paris Opera, she sings the roles of Carmen (Carmen), Eboli (Don Carlos) and Marina Mnishek (Boris Godunov). Her other European engagements include Carmen with the London Symphony Orchestra and Colin Davis in London, Aida at the Vienna State Opera, Don Carlos at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and at the Salzburg Festival (where she made her debut in 1997 in Boris Godunov”), as well as “Aida” at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Olga Borodina regularly participates in the concert programs of the world’s largest orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev and many other ensembles. Her concert repertoire includes mezzo-soprano parts in Verdi’s Requiem, Berlioz’s Death of Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky cantatas, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, and vocal Ravel’s cycle “Scheherazade” and “Songs and Dances of Death” by Mussorgsky. Olga Borodina performs with chamber programs in the best concert halls in Europe and the USA – the Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Center (London), the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Madrid National Concert Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, the Davis Hall (San Francisco), at the Edinburgh and Ludwigsburg festivals, as well as on the stages of La Scala, the Grand Theater in Geneva, the Hamburg State Opera, the Champs-Elysées Theater (Paris) and the Liceu Theater (Barcelona). In 2001 she gave a recital at Carnegie Hall (New York) with James Levine as accompanist.
In the 2006-2007 season. Olga Borodina participated in the performance of Verdi’s Requiem (London, Ravenna and Rome; conductor – Riccardo Muti) and the concert performance of the opera “Samson and Delilah” in Brussels and on the stage of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and also performed Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death with the National Orchestra of France . In the 2007-2008 season. she sang Amneris (Aida) at the Metropolitan Opera and Delilah (Samson and Delilah) at the San Francisco Opera House. Among the achievements of the 2008-2009 season. – performances at the Metropolitan Opera (Adrienne Lecouvreur with Plácido Domingo and Maria Gulegina), Covent Garden (Verdi’s Requiem, conductor – Antonio Pappano), Vienna (The Condemnation of Faust, conductor – Bertrand de Billi), Teatro Real (” Condemnation of Faust”), as well as participation in the Saint-Denis Festival (Verdi’s Requiem, conductor Riccardo Muti) and solo concerts at the Lisbon Gulbenkian Foundation and La Scala.
Olga Borodina’s discography includes more than 20 recordings, including the operas “The Tsar’s Bride”, “Prince Igor”, “Boris Godunov”, “Khovanshchina”, “Eugene Onegin”, “The Queen of Spades”, “War and Peace”, “Don Carlos” , The Force of Destiny and La Traviata, as well as Rachmaninov’s Vigil, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet, recorded with Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink and Sir Colin Davies (Philips Classics). In addition, Philips Classics has made solo recordings by singers, including Tchaikovsky’s Romances (the disc that won the Best Debut Recording of 1994 award from the Cannes Classical Music Awards jury), Songs of Desire, Bolero, an album of opera arias together with Orchestra of the National Opera of Wales conducted by Carlo Rizzi and a double album “Portrait of Olga Borodina”, composed of songs and arias. Olga Borodina’s other recordings include Samson and Delilah with José Cura and Colin Davis (Erato), Verdi’s Requiem with the Mariinsky Theater Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, Aida with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nikolaus Arnoncourt, and Death Cleopatra” by Berlioz with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Gergiev (Decca).
Source: mariinsky.ru
