By Liza Yasinskaya
The Belarusian National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre’s Oksana Volkova, who possesses a rich mezzo-soprano voice, has made her debut on one of the world’s most renowned opera stages, performing the role of Maddalena, in Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.
The Belarusian singer has joined other outstanding professionals and world opera stars: Zeljko Lucic, Diana Damrau, Piotr Beczala and Stefan Kocan. Young Italian Michele Mariotti is conducting Michael Mayer’s vision, which has moved the action from 17th century Italy to 1960s Las Vegas.
“During our live radio broadcast, I was announced as a singer from Belarus, which was lovely,” admits Ms. Volkova, who is an Honoured Artiste of the Republic of Belarus. Singing with the National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus, she has played Olga in Eugene Onegin, Polina in Queen of Spades, Konchakovna in Prince Igor, Carmen, Fenena in Nabucco, Flora in La Traviata, Marfa in Khovanshchina, Amneris in Aida and Lyubasha in The Tsar’s Bride, besides other roles.
Her international career is developing rapidly, including leading roles in performances at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, with the Nice Opera, with the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and with the San Carlo Theatre in Naples.
Seven more performances of Rigoletto are scheduled for the Metropolitan Opera stage while, on February 16th, the performance will be screened in cinemas worldwide.
In March, Belarusian audiences will be able to see Ms. Volkova at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus. In April, she will be performing her favourite role of Carmen at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires. Japanese television is already shooting a film of the performance, featuring Oksana.
