Gllleghina, Maria
Gllleghina, Maria
Gllleghina, Maria, Russian soprano; b. Odessa, Aug. 9, 1959. She received vocal training at the Odessa Cons. In 1984 she won 1st prize in the All-Union Glinka Competition, and then sang at the Minsk Opera until 1990. She made her first appearance at Milan’s La Scala as Amelia in 1986, and subsequently sang such roles there as Tosca, Lisa, and Elisabetta. In 1990 she sang Tosca at the Hamburg State Opera, which role she also portrayed at her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. on March 30, 1991, and at the San Francisco Opera in 1992. In 1994 she sang Verdi’s Elvira at the Barbican Hall in London, and in 1995 appeared as that composer’s Odabella in Houston. In 1997 she was engaged as Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera and at London’s Covent Garden. Following an appearance as Lady Macbeth at La Scala that year, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Lina in Stiffelio in 1998. In 1999 she sang Verdi’s Lady Macbeth at the Opéra National de Paris.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire