Marianna Tarasova

Born in St Petersburg. Graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire and took master classes with Galina Vishnevskaya in the UK. She has won many prizes at international competitions, including first prize at the International Dvorjak Competition in Karlsbad (1990), the Maria Caniglia Competition in Italy (1992) and the Munich Vocal Competition (1993).

Marianna Tarasova caught the attention of Valery Gergiev and was invited to join the Mariinsky Theatre in 1992.
She has toured extensively with the Company, performing roles including Carmen (Carmen), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Amneris (Aida), Konchakovna (Prince Igor) and Lyubov (Mazepa), as well as recording Sadko for Philips (audio and video) and Betrothal in a Monastery (video).

Marianna Tarasova has collaborated with such conductors as James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Maris Jansons, Yuri Temirkanov, Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Yurovsky, James Conlon, Simone Young, Semyon Bychkov, Fabio Luisi and Carlo Rizzi and directors including Elijah Moshinsky and Francesca Zambello. She has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, La Scala, the Teatro Comunale in Florence, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Netherlands Opera, Monte Carlo Opera, Graz Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, Finnish National Opera and Welsh National Opera.

Marianna Tarasova also has a busy concert and recital schedule and has sung with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Abbado in Berlin, Salzburg, Paris and on a tour of Japan. Together with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado she has recorded excerpts from Khovanshchina for Sony Classical. Marianna Tarasova has also appeared with the London Philharmonic in London, the Baltimore Symphony in Vienna, the Russian National Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic in St Petersburg and on tour in Germany, the Rotterdam Philharmonic in Rotterdam and Lucerne and the San Francisco Symphony. She took part in the BBC s complete recording of Shostakovich songs. Upcoming appearances include Cavalleria rusticana in Bern and Mazepa at the Opéra de Lyon and Welsh National Opera.