Larisa Shevchenko

• People´s Artist of the USSR
• Recipient of the State Prize of the USSR
• Prize-winner at the All-Russian Glinka Vocalists´ Competition (1975)
• Recipient of many awards at international competitions including The Grand Prix and special audience prize (the Netherlands, 1977) and The gold medal and audience prize at the bel canto competition in Oostende (1978)
• Awarded the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg´s highest theatre prize, in the category Best Opera Role for her interpretation of Turandot in Puccini´s opera of the same name (2003)
• Order of Honour (2008)

Born in Lvov (Ukraine). After graduating from The Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1976, she made her Mariinsky Theatre debut as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky´s Eugene Onegin. Mariinsky Theatre soloist from the same year.

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Olga (The Maid of Pskov)
Yaroslavna (Prince Igor)
Khivrya (Sorochyntsi Fair)
Susanna (Khovanshchina)
Tatiana, Filippyevna (Eugene Onegin)
Maria (Mazepa)
Liza (The Queen of Spades)
Clara (Betrothal in a Monastery)
Natasha Rostova, Akhrosimova (War and Peace)
Katerina Ismailova (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
Leonora (Il trovatore)
Leonora (La forza del destino)
Elisabeth (Don Carlo)
Aida (Aida)
Desdemona (Otello)
Turandot (Turandot)
Micaлla (Carmen)
Manon (Manon Lescaut)
Senta (Der Fliegende Holländer)
Elsa, Ortrud (Lohengrin)
and Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw).

The singer’s concert repertoire includes the soprano roles in Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony and Britten’s War Requiem.

From 1992 to 1997 she was a soloist with the Bonn Opera where she performed roles including Liza (The Queen of Spades) and Jenůfa (Jenůfa) in productions by Yuri Lyubimov. Has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company to Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and the USA. The singer also frequently performs in concert independently, appearing in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Melbourne as well as towns and cities throughout Germany.