Borodina, Olga (Vladimirovna)
Borodina, Olga (Vladimirovna)
Borodina, Olga (Vladimirovna), notable Russian mezzo-soprano; b. Minsk, July 29, 1963. She studied at the Leningrad Cons. and in San Francisco. In 1987 she won the All-Union Glinka Competition in her homeland and the Rosa Ponselle Competition in the U.S., and in 1989 the Francisco Vignas Competition in Barcelona. In 1987 she joined the Kirov Opera, where she made her formal operatic debut as Siebel in Faust. Her appearances with the company on tour were warmly received, including visits to Hamburg in 1990, Edinburgh in 1991, and N.Y., Paris, and Palermo in 1992. In 1992 she made her debut at London’s Covent Garden as Dalila, and in 1993 she appeared as Marina in Berlin. In 1995 she sang for the first time at the San Francisco Opera as Cenerentola, and returned there as Carmen in 1996. In 1997 she sang Marina in Salzburg, which role she chose for her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. on Dec. 19 of that year. Her subsequent engagements took her to most of the principal operatic centers of the world. In addition to her admired Russian roles, particularly Marina, Olga, and Marfa, she has won acclaim for her characterizations of Rosina, Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust, and Angelina.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire