Irina Soboleva

• Honoured Artist of Russia
• Recipient of the Medal of the Order For Services to the Fatherland, 2^nd class

Pianist Irina Soboleva developed her maxim that “a concert master is not just an accompanist – he is a creative partner on a par with the soloist” during her studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (from which she graduated with distinction) and through contact with such outstanding musicians and teachers as Dmitry Svetozarov and Yevgeny Shenderovich.

In 1980, three years after graduating from the Conservatoire, Irina Soboleva was invited to join the Mariinsky Theatre as an accompanist. In 1986 she was a diploma-recipient at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Over her years at the theatre, Irina Soboleva’s repertoire has become incredibly extensive. Productions she has worked on include The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin, Sadko, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Prince Igor, War and Peace, Boris Godunov, The Love for Three Oranges, Semyon Kotko, Katerina Ismailova, Mazepa, The Enchantress, The Tsar’s Bride, The Nose, Carmen, Macbeth, Un ballo in maschera, Król Roger, Věc Makropulos and The Turn of the Screw.
In the 2010–2011 season Irina Soboleva worked at the theatre on productions of the operas Aida (staged by Daniele Finzi Pasca) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (staged by Claudia Solti).

The pianist frequently performs in concerts and with Mariinsky Theatre soloists at the Great and Small Halls of the St Petersburg Philharmonic as well as touring internationally.
Irina Soboleva has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company on several occasions to Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, Japan, Israel and the USA (Metropolitan Opera) among other countries; she has taken part in festivals including the Stars of the White Nights in St Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Mikkeli Festival and the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam.

Together with Alexander Morozov, Irina Soboleva recorded a disc featuring Russian romances. She has been involved in recordings of the operas Boris Godunov, Mazepa, Semyon Kotko, Prince Igor, War and Peace and The Love for Three Oranges among others for Phillips Classics as The Nose well as on the Mariinsky label.

Irina Soboleva was also involved in a production of the opera War and Peace at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera, working with Valery Gergiev and Andrei Konchalovsky, a production of the opera The Demon at the Théâtre du Châtelet as part of the  Saisons russes in Paris (Conductor – Valery Gergiev, Stage Director – Lev Dolin), productions of The Nose at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and as well as Semyon Kotko at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari under the baton of Alexander Vedernikov, which all met with tremendous acclaim from the audiences.

In the 2009–2010 season she took part in a performance of the Bolshoi Theatre’s production of The Maid of Pskov at the Pskov Kremlin and in the 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 seasons she was involved in productions of the operas The Nose (staged by William Kentridge) and Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera. She has been invited by Welsh National Opera on numerous occasions to work on productions of Russian operas.