Larisa Yelina

Mariinsky Theatre Guest Soloist

• Recipient of an award from the St Petersburg City Government “For a significant contribution to the development of culture and the arts” (2010)
• Prize-winner at the 17^th festival Theatres of St Petersburg for Children (2008; for her performance as Little Red Riding Hood in Mikhail Rauchwerger’s eponymous opera)
• Recipient of a special prize and the diploma “For the best performance of a Bulgarian song” at the 13^th Boris Christoff International Competition for Young Opera Singers (Sofia, 2004)

Larisa Yelina was born in Dzerzhinsk (Gorky Region, now Nizhny Novgorod Region). Graduated with distinction from the Vocals Faculty and the Composition and History of Music Faculty of the Glinka Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatoire. Has taken part in masterclasses given by Vladimir Atlantov and Elena Obraztsova.

While a student she worked as a soloist with the Arzamas Municipal Opera Theatre, where she made her debut as Leonora (Il trovatore).

From 1997 to 2000 the artist appeared in concerts with the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, performing with its symphony orchestra under the baton of Alexander Skulsky.

From 2000 to 2006 she was a soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers.

Subsequently Larisa Yelina was a soloist with the St Petersburg State Philharmonic for Childre and Youth. Later she organised Helsinki’s Bolero Musical Theatre, which functioned in 2013–2014.

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
The Golden Cockerel (The Golden Cockerel)
Khokhlakova (Smelkov's The Brothers Karamazov)
Zlydnia (A Christmas Tale)
Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro)
Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore)
Sister Osmina (Suor Angelica)
A Lover (Il tabarro)
Waldvogel (Siegfried)
Frasquita (Carmen)
Flora (The Turn of the Screw)
Tytania (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

In March 2010 she took part in the Mariinsky Theatre’s tour to Hong Kong, where she appeared as Flora in the opera The Turn of the Screw under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

Repertoire also includes the roles of the Queen of Shemakha (The Golden Cockerel), Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Norina (Don Pasquale), Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Rosina (Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia), Gilda (Rigoletto) and Snow Maiden (The Snow Maiden).

In November 2009 she gave recitals on tour to Japan (Tokyo and Nagano). In October 2011 the singer took part in a concert performed for the Japanese imperial family in Tokyo.

In 2022 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of St Anna by the Russian Imperial House.
Information for February 2024