53 Facts About Galina Pisarenko

Galina Alekseyevna Pisarenko was a Soviet-born Russian soprano and teacher.

Galina Pisarenko showed musical promise as a child, and her aunt enrolled her in the Gnessin Institute of Music, where she graduated with a diploma in piano.

Galina Pisarenko later chose to study voice instead at the Moscow Conservatory with Nina Dorliak, who became her lifelong mentor.

Galina Pisarenko became a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory in 1976, a position she held until her death.

Galina Pisarenko joined the Novaya Opera Theatre in 1991, eventually becoming its director.

Galina Pisarenko died in 2022 and is buried at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.

Galina Pisarenko sang in imitation of the adults at her home, which delighted her family, who often requested more songs from her.

Elena Gnesina, one of the school's co-founders, asked Galina Pisarenko to sing something instead of play the piano.

Galina Pisarenko later recalled that she was "terrified" at the thought of playing the piano, but that singing made her happy.

Galina Pisarenko chose to sing a Russian folk song, "In a Field There Was a Birch Tree", and was immediately accepted into the Gnessin Institute.

Galina Pisarenko studied there for seven years, graduating with a piano diploma.

Galina Pisarenko successfully auditioned by singing a romance by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Galina Pisarenko withdrew into herself and, with Dorliak's careful teaching, began to build the essentials of her technique, starting with breathing.

When Galina Pisarenko began her second year at the Conservatory, she had regained her confidence.

Galina Pisarenko therefore enrolled at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Galina Pisarenko decided to attend Moscow State University and the Maurice Thorez Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages; studying economics at the former, while majoring in English and minoring in Norwegian at the latter.

Galina Pisarenko, who was fluent in English, later kept a number of English, Scottish, and Irish folk songs in her personal repertoire, which she sang inflected in their local accents.

Galina Pisarenko offered her the part of Desdemona in a forthcoming production of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello.

Excited, she related the news to Dorliak, who cautioned Galina Pisarenko against accepting the offer.

Galina Pisarenko was unsure of herself, felt that she was "not worthy" of performing at such important venues, and thought it would be better to begin her professional career at a provincial theatre.

Pasynkov tried to get Galina Pisarenko to reconsider her decision, but she declined, later explaining that one of the crucial reasons she preferred to work in Moscow was to remain close to Dorliak.

When Galina Pisarenko started at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, she was excited to work with singers who had been trained by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.

Galina Pisarenko made her debut as the title character in Jacques Offenbach's operetta La belle Helene, learning the role from Nadezhda Kemarskaya, who had first sung the role for the theatre.

Galina Pisarenko appeared as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, as Adina in Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore; in the title roles of Jules Massenet's Manon, and Tchaikovsky's Iolanta; as both Mimi and Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's La boheme, and as Ninetta in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges.

Galina Pisarenko was coached in all her operatic roles by Dorliak.

Galina Pisarenko subsequently recorded Tenderness for Melodiya with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra conducted by Volodymyr Kozhukhar.

In February 1964, Galina Pisarenko was among the musicians selected by Dmitri Shostakovich to perform at a nine-day festival in Gorky dedicated to his music and influence.

Together with mezzo-soprano Lyudmila Filatova, violinist Oleg Kagan, and pianist Sofia Khentova, Galina Pisarenko performed it for Shostakovich while he was convalescing in the hospital in late 1972.

Galina Pisarenko was among the musicians whose recordings were played at Shostakovich's funeral on 14 August 1975.

Galina Pisarenko sang the Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok.

Galina Pisarenko, who sang the role of Micaela, recalled that she and her fellow singers, who were mostly unfamiliar with the latest trends in staging outside of the Soviet Union, were intimidated by Felsenstein at first.

Galina Pisarenko said the singers had to relearn all their sung and spoken dialogue in German.

Galina Pisarenko defended Felsenstein against criticisms that he prioritized visuals over music, saying that he sought to "decipher" the music and "understand" the composer.

Galina Pisarenko performed regularly at the Komische Oper Berlin until 1976.

Galina Pisarenko appeared as a guest with numerous ensembles, including performing in Rome in 1980.

In 1981, Galina Pisarenko performed with Sviatoslav Richter at the first December Evenings Festival, which he co-founded with the director of the Pushkin Museum.

Galina Pisarenko recalled that he was "very supportive", but that she felt under great pressure when singing with him:.

Galina Pisarenko played with total devotion, therefore the singer needed to mobilize all possible resources that are usually left to rest during a rehearsal.

Galina Pisarenko's fire goaded one to respond with the utmost of one's abilities.

Galina Pisarenko joined the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory in 1976.

Galina Pisarenko became an associate professor in 1982, then professor in 1995.

Galina Pisarenko taught until her death and was regarded by her students as one of the best modern voice teachers.

Galina Pisarenko gave master classes internationally and she wrote articles and books on the art of singing.

Galina Pisarenko was honorary professor at the Orpheon Conservatory in Athens, and from 2002 was a guest professor at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz.

Galina Pisarenko was a member of the jury of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and other vocal competitions.

Galina Pisarenko was a jury member of What the 20th Century Left Us, a competition for best performances of music by Boris Tchaikovsky.

Galina Pisarenko compared the current situation unfavorably with Soviet times.

Galina Pisarenko disapproved of opera being sung in translation, saying that a singer was obligated to sing in the work's original language.

Galina Pisarenko said that singing an opera like Eugene Onegin in German meant that it was "no longer Tchaikovsky".

Galina Pisarenko was the soprano soloist in a 1979 recording of Sergei Rachmaninoff's The Bells, alongside tenor Aleksei Maslennikov and baritone Sergei Yakovenko, with Yevgeny Svetlanov conducting the Yurlov Russian Choir and the USSR Symphony Orchestra.

Galina Pisarenko later recalled that the tension was "gigantic" during the recording sessions:.

Galina Pisarenko recorded, partly live, songs by Karol Szymanowski in Warsaw in 1982 on the occasion of the composer's centenary, with Sviatoslav Richter at the piano, including the song cycle The Love Songs of Hafiz and Songs on Words by James Joyce.

Galina Pisarenko recorded in 1983 the role of the Princess in Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka, conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.