Olga Peretyatko

Peretyatko was born in Leningrad, to Russian mother and Ukrainian father, a baritone singer in the choir of the Mariinsky Theatre. After her parents' divorce when she was 7, she moved to Visaginas, in the Lithuanian SSR, to live with her mother. In 1995 she returned to her native city to live with her father. She then joined the Mariinsky Children's Choir, singing second alto, meanwhile studying choral conducting at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. As opposed to initial perception as a mezzo-soprano, she transitioned to soprano when starting private studies with Larisa Gogolevskaya in 2000.[1]

Peretyatko first arrived to Berlin as a tourist in 2001. Impressed, she moved in the following year and began studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" with Brenda Mitchell, living in a student booth (Studentenbude) in Prenzlauer Berg.[2][3] She did not graduate until 2009. She remained in the city, residing in an apartment on Nollendorfplatz.[4] She has won the International Belcanto Prize at Rossini in Wildbad (2005), second prize and Mozart prize at DEBUT Competition in Bad Mergentheim (2006). In 2007, she won second prize at Operalia.[5] She started taking occasional private lessons with soprano Mariella Devia, whom she admires, since 2013.[6]

Peretyatko participated in the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, where she made her opera debut in 2004, as Theofane in Harry Kupfer's production of Handel's Ottone.[7] She also performed Tamiri in Meyerbeer's Semiramide at 2005 Rossini in Wildbad.[8] From 2005 to 2007, she participated in the Young Artists' Program of the Hamburg State Opera. In 2006, as a participant of Alberto Zedda's Accademia Rossiniana, she performed in Il viaggio a Reims as Contessa di Folleville and Corinna at the Rossini Opera Festival, where she returned in the following editions as a guest singer, performing Desdemona (Otello, 2007), Giulia (La scala di seta, 2009), Aldamira (Sigismondo, 2010), and the title role in Matilde di Shabran (2012).[9]

In 2007, she debuted at the Berlin State Opera as a flowermaiden in Wagner's Parsifal, and performed Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Komische Oper Berlin. In November, she debuted in Paris in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress as Anne Trulove at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées,[10] where she later returned for Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Elvira in I puritani.[11] She was then engaged at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia as the Voice from Heaven in Verdi's Don Carlo conducted by Lorin Maazel, and the Forest Bird in Wagner's Siegfried conducted by Zubin Mehta.[12] In 2008, she debuted as Gilda in Rigoletto at the Teatro Rojas in Toledo, with following performances at the Theater Lübeck, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La Fenice in Venice, Arènes d'Avenches.[13] In December 2008, she performed Adele in Die Fledermaus at the Opéra National de Lyon.[14] She performed at the 2010 edition of La Folle Journée in Nantes in a concert with Sinfonia Varsovia, and Strauss' Four Last Songs in the following edition.[15]

Peretyatko gained international attention as the title role in Robert Lepage's production of Stravinsky's The Nightingale, which premiered in 2009 at the Canadian Opera Company then presented at the 2010 Aix-en-Provence Festival and subsequently at the Opéra de Lyon, the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam.[16] In 2010, she debuted at the Lausanne Opera in Rossini's Otello,[17] and received acclaim as Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Liceu) and Susanna (Teatro Comunale, Florence).[18][19] In 2011, she debuted as Adina in L'elisir d'amore (Opéra de Lille), the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor (Teatro Massimo in Palermo). In 2012, she debuted as the title role in Alcina (Lausanne Opera),[20] Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia (De Nederlandse Opera).[21] Apart from reprising Adina (Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Lausanne Opera) and Lucia (Deutsche Oper Berlin), she performed in Carmina Burana under Paavo Järvi at the Rheingau Musik Festival and The Nightingale in concert form with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit.[22]

In 2013, she participated in a run of Lucio Silla conducted by Marc Minkowski as Giunia presented at the Mozartwoche, Salzburg Festival, and Musikfest Bremen.[23][24] She debuted at the Vienna State Opera in Gilda, the role in which she made her Verona Arena debut.[25][26] She returned to the Hamburg State Opera for L'elisir d'amore, in September for Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos.[27] She was featured as Marfa in the premiere of Dmitri Tcherniakov's production of The Tsar's Bride at the Berlin State Opera, and later at La Scala.[28] She returned to Russia for a solo concert on 26 November 2013 in Moscow with the Russian National Orchestra.[29] In 2014, she debuted at the Zürich Opera House (Rigoletto), and at the Metropolitan Opera, where she signed for Fiakermilli in Arabella in 2009, but negotiated for Elvira in I puritani.[30][31] Apart from engagements as Adina,[32] she performed Fiorilla in a new production at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and in a revival at the Bavarian State Opera.[33] She was featured in the 2014 Concert de Paris,[34] in Bruckner's Te Deum at the Salzburg Festival,[35] and Tancredi in concert form conducted by Alberto Zedda, as well as Montreal Symphony Orchestra's Asian tour.[36]

In 2015, Peretyatko debuted to rave reviews as Violetta in La traviata at the Lausanne Opera, followed by a new production of the same title at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She returned to the Vienna State Opera for I puritani, and then debuted at the Teatro Regio in Turin in the same opera. Besides returning to La Scala for Rossini's Otello, she debuted at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen and La Monnaie in Bruxelles in L'elisir d'amore. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Rigoletto, which was followed by engagements in the same opera through the season, including revivals at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Vienna State Opera, and a new production at the Opéra Bastille.[37] In 2016, she opened the Vienna Opera Ball together with Plácido Domingo,[38] and performed in Saint Petersburg: Mariinsky Theatre debut in La traviata,[39] and Classics at the Palace Square, concert celebrating the founding of the city.[40] In summer, she returned to the Rossini Opera Festival for Il turco in Italia.[9] She further debuted in the role of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Berlin State Opera,[41] and Konstanze in Die Entführung in performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zürich Opera House, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.[42]

In 2017, she sang the main role of Leïla in Wim Wenders's take on Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.[43] In 2019, she debuted at the Royal Opera, London in the role of Norina in Don Pasquale.[44]

Peretyatko met conductor Michele Mariotti while working on Rossini's Sigismondo in 2010. They married in August 2012.[45] They lived between Berlin, Pesaro, their respective homes, and Bologna, where they jointly owned a residence.[46] On 29 June 2018 she announced on Facebook the filing of divorce and withdrawal from the upcoming production of Don Giovanni at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna which was conducted by her ex-husband.[47][48] She took up residence in Lucerne in the same year,[49] and started a relationship with Grigory Shkarupa, fellow Russian bass singer.[50] They married on 26 August 2020 in Saint Petersburg.[51]

Being a karate red-belt, which she practiced in her childhood,[1] she also does yoga and jogging for relaxation and fitness and enjoys electronic music.[52]

• 2014: Best singer in Premio Franco Abbiati della critica musicale italiana (awarded on 15 June 2015)[53]
• 2016: Best solo recording of the Echo Klassik award for the Rossini album[54]
• 2018: Best solo recording of the Opus Klassik award for album Russian Light[55]
• 2019: Traetta Prize[56]

• 2006: Semiramide riconosciuta, Meyerbeer. Label: Naxos (Naxos Series: Opera Classics), catalogue no: 8.660205-06
• 2008: La donna del lago, Rossini. Label: Naxos, catalogue no: 8.660235-36
• 2011: La bellezza del canto, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Miguel Gómez-Martínez, first solo recital CD (Sony)
• 2014: Arabesque, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Enrique Mazzola (Sony)
• 2015: Rossini!, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Alberto Zedda (Sony)
• 2017: Russian Light, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Liss (Sony)
• 2019: Mozart+, Ivor Bolton, Sinfonieorchester Basel (Sony)

• Olga Peretyatko: My Love for Rossini (2016). directed by Gabriele Cazzola.[57]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olga Peretyatko.

• Official website
• Olga Peretyatko at IMDb
• Olga Peretyatko at Sony Classical
• Olga Peretyatko at Bolshoi Theatre
• Classic Talk: Olga Peretyatko Part 1 on YouTube
• Classic Talk: Olga Peretyatko Part 2 on YouTube