Elena Zelenskaya

Biography

Born in Baku. In 1984, she completed her studies at the Baku Conservatory (Professor K. Karimov’s class). Fr om 1991-96, she was soloist with Moscow’s Novaya Opera Theatre Company wh ere she sang the role of Elisabetta (first Russian performance) in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda and the title role in La Wally, the opera by Alfredo Catalani.
She joined the Bolshoi Theatre as soloist in 1996.

Repertoire

Her Bolshoi Theatre repertoire includes the following, among other, roles:
Leonora (La Forza del Destino)
Rosina (Le Nozze di Figaro)
Liza (Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades)
Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera)
Title role (Aida)
Yaroslavna (Borodin’s Prince Igor)
Natalia (Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik)
Tatiana (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin)
Natasha (Dargomyzhsky’s Rusalka)
Abigaille (Nabucco)
Kupava (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden)
Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)
Title role (Turandot)
Ekaterina Lvovna Izmailova (The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
Renata (The Fiery Angel)
Senta (Der fliegende Holländer)
Soprano (Pravednikov’s The Tale of the Priest and of his Workman Balda in the performance The Fables of the Vixen, the Duckling and Balda)
Soprano (Prokofiev’s The Ugly Duckling in the performance The Fables of the Vixen, the Duckling and Balda)
Eboli (Don Carlo)
Madame Larina (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin)
Saburova (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride)
Herodias (Salome)

Also in repertoire:
Santuzza (Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana)
Odabella (Verdi’s Attila)
Mimi (La Boheme)
Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni)
Tamara (Rubinstein’s The Demon)
Stefana (Giordano’s Siberia)
Joan (Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans)
Anna (Puccini’s Le Villi)
Maddalena (Giordano’s Andrea Chenier)
Gorislava (Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila)
Zemfira (Rakhmaninov’s Aleko)
Title role (Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta)

Tours

Since 1992, she has toured extensively abroad. From 1992-96 she was permanent guest soloist with the Vienna’s Kammeroper as a member of which company she sang the roles of Rosina (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni). In 1997, she appeared at the Lucerne Opera House (Switzerland) as Lady Macbeth. She also sang Aida at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf) and at the Deutsche Oper (Berlin).
In 2000, she sang Leonora (La Forza del Destino) at the Royal Danish Opera, Tosca at Theatre de la Monnaie (Brussels), Lady Macbeth at the New Israel Opera (Tel-Aviv). In Los Angeles, USA, she sang in Britten’s War Requiem conducted by A. Pappano.
In 2001, she appeared as Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera) at the Metropolitan Opera (conductor Placido Domingo) and at the Mannheim Opera House (Germany), she sang Aida and the soprano part in Verdi’s Requiem at San Diego Opera (USA), Mimi (La Boheme) at Teatro Liceo (Barcelone).
In 2002, she sang Maddalena (Andrea Chenier) at the New Israel Opera and the title part in Prokofiev’s Maddalena in Concertgebouw (Amsterdam).
In 2003, she appeared as Lady Macbeth at the Koln Opera House (Germany), Abigaille (Nabucco) at the New Israel Opera, Joan (The Maid of Orleans) in Concertgebouw.
In 2004 she sang Odabella (Attila) at La Fenice (Italy) and at the New Israel Opera, Tosca at the Scottish Opera.
In 2005, she sang the title role in Rakhmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini at Vredenburg Music Centre (Utrecht, Netherlands), Elisabetta (Don Carlo) at the Koln Opera House, Desdemona (Otello) at the Estonia National Opera.
In 2006, she appeared as Leonora (La Forza del Destino) at the Metropolitan Opera, as Lady Macbeth at the Seattle Opera, she also sang the soprano part in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Tampere Opera (Finland).
In 2007, she gave a recital at the Palais Garnier (Paris), she sang Minnie (La Fanciulla del West) at the Melbourne Arts Centre (Australia) and Maddalena (Andrea Chenier) at Teatro Sociale di Rovigo (Italy).
In 2017 and 2018, she performed the role of Abigaille (Verdi’s Nabucco) at the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ljubljana.

She has taken part in the following, among other, international opera festivals: Wexford (Stefana in Giordano’s Siberia), Savonlinna, Finland (Aida, Leonora in La Forza del Destino), Bergen, Norway (Tosca, Lady Macbeth, Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, Anna in Le Villi), Athens, Greece (Abigaille in Nabucco).

Discography

Tradition, classical arias, Russian chamber orchestra, 1995.
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin — Tatiana, conductor S. Fridman,1996.
Verdi’s Requiem — soprano part, conductor M. Ermler, 2001.
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda — Elisabetta, conductor E. Kolobov, 2006 (recordered in 1993).

Video:
Dargomyzhsky’s Rusalka — Natasha, conductor M. Ermler, DVD, Bolshoi Theatre, 2000.
Verdi’s Aida — Aida, VHS, Bolshoi Theatre, 2000.