Olga Peretyatko, one of the world’s most sought-after sopranos, made her international break-through after winning Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia Competition, since then she has been a regular guest at the world’s most important opera houses and concert halls.
Olga Peretyatko kicks off the 2021/22 season, singing the four ladies in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Hamburg State Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano. Another notable role debut takes the soprano back to the Baden-Baden’s Festspielhaus, where she performs Maria in Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa.The title is also performed in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Kirill Petrenko. Another exciting role debut as Liu in Puccini’s Turandot brings her back to the Berlin State Opera, where she also appears as Leïla (Les Pêcheurs des Perles). This season soprano also makes two Donizetti’s role debuts as Maria Stuarda at the Sydney Opera House and as Lucrezia Borgia at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. In addition, soprano returns to the Teatro Liceu Barcelona as Gilda (Rigoletto) and to the Zurich Opera as Fiorilla (Il Turco in Italia). On the concert stage the Russian native can be heard in Tallinn, Germany, Seoul, Vilnius, Budapest, Paris and Antwerpen.
Highlights of the 2020/21 season include her first solo recital with Elena Bashkirova at the Pierre-Boulez-Saal in Berlin and return to the Berlin State Opera as Leïla (Les Pêcheurs des Perles). Besides that, Olga Peretyatko released at the label Melodiya new solo album Songs for Maya, devoted to the birth of her first-born daughter. She gave recitals with lullabies from the album in Russia, Lucerne, Koufonisia and at the Verbier Festival. Scheduled performances as Micaela (Carmen) at the Metropolitan Opera and role debuts Elettra (Idomeneo) at the Berlin State Opera, Manon at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Maria (Mazeppa) at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and Berlin Philharmonie, as Mathilde (Guillaume Tell) at the Vienna State Opera, Anaï (Moïse et Pharaon) at the Rossini Opera Festival, as well as concerts in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Tenerife, Vilnius, Taipei, Guangzhou and Singapore were cancelled in 2020/21 and 2019/20 due to the Covid-pandemic.
Among the highlights of the past seasons are the four ladies in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Vienna State Opera, where she also appeared as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). The soprano made her role debut as Anna Bolena at the Opera Royal de Wallonie Liège and gave guest performances at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. Another acclaimed role and house debut took Olga Peretyatko to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden: in 2019, she appeared live in cinemas worldwide as Norina (Don Pasquale), alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role. With her role debut as Pamina she thrilled in Barrie Kosky's magical production of Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro Real Madrid. In the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor Olga Peretyatko has most recently appeared at the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York and the Opera Monte Carlo. At the Hamburg State Opera she sang her first Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro) and at the Chorégies d'Orange a charming Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). At the Mariinsky Theater St. Petersburg she sang Gilda in Valeriy Gergiev's very first conducting of Verdi's Rigoletto in August 2020.
Her uniquely compelling voice and stage presence allow Ms. Peretyatko to interpret a wide range of different roles. The soprano is predestined not only for Rossini roles such as Fiorilla (Il Turco in Italia), Berenice (L'occasione fa il ladro), Mathilde (Guillaume Tell), Anaï (Moïse et Pharaon) and Rosina, but also for humorous roles such as Adina (L'Elisir d'amore), Norina (Don Pasquale) or tragic figures such as Anna Bolena or La traviata. There is hardly a major opera house that has not yet invited her to sing lead roles, including Deutsche Oper Berlin, the State Operas in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Vienna, Zurich Opera, Lausanne Opera, Opera Monte Carlo, La Fenice in Venice, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Real in Madrid, Opéra Bastille in Paris, Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Olga Peretyatko has collaborated with the world’s most renowned directors, including Robert Lepage, whose acclaimed 2009 production of Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol in Toronto confirmed her status as one of the top sopranos of our time. She sang Marfa in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s provocative take on The Tsar’s Bride, which was presented in 2013/2014 first at Staatsoper Unter den Linden and then at the Teatro alla Scala. In 2017 she sang Leïla, the main role in Wim Wender’s operatic debut in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs des Perles, under musical direction of Daniel Barenboim. Olga Peretyatko is a frequent guest star at the most prestigious opera festivals including Mozartwoche Salzburg, Baden-Baden, Aix-en-Provence and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and the Chorégies d'Orange, where video recordings of her performances of Matilde di Shabran, Sigismondo, and La Scala di Seta were released worldwide on DECCA, Arthaus Musik, and Opus Arte, respectively.
Ms. Peretyatko’s recital schedule has included a performance under the Eiffel Tower for the Bastille Day celebrations in front of a live audience of 600,000 people and an international TV audience of several million viewers. In North America, she sang Strauss' Four Last Songs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. with the National Symphony Orchestra. The same repertoire was featured on a tour of China with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Maestro Kent Nagano; its concert recording made in Nante is regularly broadcasted on ARTE. In 2018, Olga Peretyatko gave a highly acclaimed first solo recital at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala.
At the label Sony Classical in 2019 Olga Peretyatko released her sixth album Mozart +, recorded together with Sinfonieorchester Basel, with Ivor Bolton’s conducting. In 2018, they also released the highly acclaimed The Secret Fauré. Her broad discography also includes Russian Light (2017, OPUS Klassik Award 2018), presenting some of the most beautiful arias and songs of the Russian repertoire; Rossini! (2015), awarded as Best solo album of the year at the renowned ECHO Klassik, and belcanto albums La Bellezza del Canto (2011) and Arabesque (2013).
Olga Peretyatko was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia and started her musical career singing in the children’s choir of the Mariinsky Theatre, went on to study at the Hanns Eisler-Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and the opera studio at the Hamburg State Opera. She continues to receive major awards, including the high distinction of Premio Franco Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana.
© CSAM, August 2021
