Galina Pisarenko

Galina Alekseyevna Pisarenko (Галина Алексеевна Писаренко; 24 January 1934 – 23 October 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian soprano and teacher.

She 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.

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

For a time, Pisarenko studied concurrently at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations; then economics, English, and Norwegian at Moscow State University and the Maurice Thorez Moscow State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages.

Pisarenko (née Galina Alexeyevna Kuzmina) was born in Leningrad on 24 January 1934.

Although her parents were not professional musicians, she recalled that both of them often sang at home, with her father accompanying himself on the guitar.

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

Before her third birthday, Pisarenko's mother died from tuberculosis; her father died in 1941.

Pisarenko and her older sister went to Moscow to live with their aunt, Alexandra Kuzmina, whom they called "babushka".

Kuzmina took notice of Pisarenko's musical aptitude, whom she took to audition for piano lessons at the Gnessin Institute of Music.

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

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

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

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

During her high school years, she decided to learn singing instead of continuing with piano studies.

Afterwards, Pisarenko graduated high school, where she received a gold medal for scholastic achievement, and subsequently enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory.

She successfully auditioned by singing a romance by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

There her voice teacher was Nina Dorliak, who mentored her for the rest of her life.

Initially, Pisarenko was confident in her abilities, but quickly lost faith in herself because she heard fellow student singers whose voices "seemed better" than hers.

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

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

During this time, Alexander Chugunov, the conductor of the conservatory's opera studio, asked Dorliak if she had any "ready-made Musettas" among her students for a forthcoming performance of La bohème; she recommended Pisarenko, who later recalled:

"I went to the studio with little idea of what I was going to do. I was certainly musical ..., but there were also a lot of challenges. I learned the part in no time and dug into the rehearsal process. Keep in mind that Musetta is not an easy part at all. I call it a 'make it or break it' role. When you step onto the stage, with all the lights, attention, and applause trained onto you, you either have to be the real Musetta or not even bother showing up. All the same, it is a marvelous role ... because Musetta is naughty, uninhibited, laughing, waltzing, mocking, and so on. In other words, you have no time to think about your Wobbly knees, you really need to go out there and sing. It was exactly because of this that I really felt like a singer, then it all became so much easier: it was as if some flood gates opened up and everything just sorted itself out. It truly was like being reborn, I felt so happy!"

After the performance, she was met by Dorliak, who enthusiastically told her, "You will be an artist!"

Her aunt, despite her earlier enthusiasm, insisted to Pisarenko that she study a "serious profession" along with music.

Pisarenko therefore enrolled at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO).

Among the lifelong friends she made there were Vladimir Petrovsky and Anatoly Slyusar.

As a result of the MGIMO's reorganization in 1954, Pisarenko had to leave the school, but was allowed to continue her studies at any institution for the humanities of her choice.

She 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.

After graduating, she worked as a translator at a television factory.

After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory in 1961, Pisarenko successfully auditioned for the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, where she earned international recognition as one of its leading singers.

Yevgeny Svetlanov called her a "True Master" and "diva".

Dmitri Shostakovich personally selected her to perform at a festival dedicated to his life and music in 1964.

From 1969 to 1976, she collaborated on a series of productions with stage director Walter Felsenstein, which led to her becoming a regular guest at the Komische Oper Berlin.

She also sung the Moscow premiere of Vitaliy Hubarenko's mono-opera Tenderness to great acclaim and later recorded her interpretation.

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

In 1990, she left the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre.

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

She retired from singing in 1996.

She died in 2022 and is buried at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.