Olga Borodina sings as Olga once again

On 22 September the outstanding mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina will be performing an anniversary concert at the Mariinsky Theatre.

The Mariinsky Theatre is to host an anniversary concert by Olga Borodina, People’s Artist of Russia, recipient of the State Prize of Russia and a prize-winner at All-Union and international competitions. Her voice, unique in terms of its beauty and power, has led to the Russian prima-donna’s being acclaimed throughout the world, and she will be appearing on the stage where she first dedicated herself to the world of opera.

Of the concert programme, Olga Borodina herself comments that “I really adore Eugene Onegin, and I haven’t sung the role of Olga for more than twenty years. It’s a small role, but the music is so amazing, I’ve missed it so much – I wanted to sing as Olga once more; perhaps it might look strange, but at my anniversary concert I want to sing something that gives me pleasure. I haven’t sung Prince Igor for a very long time either and the music is stunning. And I’ve never, ever sung Carmen in any production at the Mariinsky – only at concerts.

The concert features Act I of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, Act II of Alexander Borodin’s opera Prince Igor and Act IV of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen. Appearing that evening alongside Borodina onstage are Svetlana Volkova, Anastasia Kalagina, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Akhmed Agadi, Yevgeny Akimov, Sergei Aleksashkin, Mikhail Kit, Yuri Marusin and Edem Umerov. The Mariinsky Orchestra will be conducted by Tugan Sokhiev.

Olga Borodina made her debut at the Mariinsky (then still the Kirov) Theatre following an audition while still a third-year student at the Conservatoire where she was taught by the famed Irina Bogacheva. Borodina made her debut in the minor role of the young Siébel in Gounod’s opera Faust. The first conductor the singer began to collaborate with was Valery Gergiev. Taking over as the theatre’s Principal Conductor from Yuri Temirkanov, Gergiev organised a Musorgsky Festival during which the theatre presented all five of the composer’s operas as well as symphony music and song cycles. The festival opened with Khovanshchina. The opera’s lead female role – that of Marfa – had always been considered a “mature” role, and Marfa was being rehearsed by Irina Bogacheva, Yevgenia Gorokhovskaya and Lyudmila Filatova, three dazzling mezzo-sopranos at the Kirov Opera. To start with, Olga Borodina merely attended rehearsals. She appeared onstage for the first time one week before the premiere. And there was such desire to live and such youthful passion in her suffering-filled voice that Khovanshchina became less of a tragedy of an idea and more of a tragedy of destiny. Borodina performed in the premiere. Her Marfa was a veritable sensation. Olga Borodina’s international fame received a boost following her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Samson et Dalila, 1992), when she was partnered by the legendary Plácido Domingo. 1997 saw the singer’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera (as Marina Mnishek in Boris Godunov). Throughout her stage career Olga Borodina has had the good fortune always to work with the most amazing conductors – among them Sir Colin Davis at Coven Garden and James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera. Borodina has also worked extensively with Riccardo Muti, and it was for Verdi’s Requiem – recorded with him and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – that the singer won a Grammy.