Olga Peretyatko

Olga Alexandrovna Peretyatko (Ольга Александровна Перетятько; born 21 May 1980) is a Russian operatic soprano.

She has been known for lyric and coloratura soprano roles, most notably in operas by Rossini and Mozart. In recent years, she has been taking up heavier and more lyrical roles.

She embarked her professional career in Hamburg State Opera's Young Artists' Program and at the Rossini Opera Festival with her collaboration with Alberto Zedda.

Peretyatko was born in Leningrad on 21 May 1980.

Her mother is an economist while her Ukrainian father, Alexander, is a baritone singer.

He sings in the choir of the Mariinsky Theatre instead of pursuing a solo career due to her birth.

She briefly learned violin when she was 5 before turning to piano.

After her parents' divorce when she was 7, she moved to Visaginas, in the Lithuanian SSR, to live with her mother, during the years of which she earned red-belt in karate.

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.

Contrary to the initial perception and her intention as a mezzo-soprano, she transitioned to soprano when starting private studies with Larisa Gogolevskaya in 2000.

She named Joan Sutherland as her inspiration.

She travelled to Berlin in 2001 on her first trip to the West.

Impressed, the following year she auditioned and was admitted into the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, where she studied under Brenda Mitchell.

Due to language constraints, she chose her for her being the seemingly only anglophone teacher available.

At the Hochschule, she had her first stage experience with Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), and subsequently Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail).

During her studies, she sought university students who wanted to learn Russian and would offer German in return, to overcome her language barrier, and teamed up with a string quartet performing concerts at hospitals and retirement homes for extra living budget.

The experience inspired her to take singing seriously.

Her first engagement was in 2004, as Theofane in Harry Kupfer's production of Handel's Ottone at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg.

In 2005, after performing in Rossini's L'occasione fa il ladro at the Saalbau Neukölln, she was invited to Rossini in Wildbad by its manager to perform in Meyerbeer's Semiramide riconosciuta, conducted by Richard Bonynge.

From 2005 to 2007, she participated in the Young Artists' Program of the Hamburg State Opera, where she sang roles such as Papagena (The Magic Flute), Marie (Zar und Zimmermann), Oberto (Alcina), Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro).

She participated Alberto Zedda's Accademia Rossiniana in 2006, performing in Il viaggio a Reims (Contessa di Folleville) at the Rossini Opera Festival.

Recognizing her lyric soprano potential, Zedda also assigned her the role of Corinna in different performances of the run.

Following winning second prize in Plácido Domingo's Operalia in 2007, she made her Parisian debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

She became a frequent guest singer at the Festival, performing Desdemona (Otello, 2007), Giulia (La scala di seta, 2009), Aldamira (Sigismondo, 2010), and the title role in Matilde di Shabran (2012).

In 2007, she made her Berlin State Opera debut as a Flowermaiden in Wagner's Parsifal, and performed Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Peretyatko won second prize at 2007 Operalia.

She had two engagements at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in 2007/08: 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.

In 2008, she sang her first Gilda in Rigoletto at the Teatro Rojas in Toledo, followed by later performances in Lübeck, Bologna, Venice, and Avenches.

Other performances included Adele in Die Fledermaus (Lyon), Sofia in Il signor Bruschino (Graz), Fiakermilli in Arabella (Lübeck).

She was noticed internationally after performing the title role in Stravinsky's The Nightingale in 2009.

After three years of studies, Peretyatko decided to gain professional experience and only graduated in 2009.

Recognised by Dominique Meyer, she was invited to perform in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (Anne Trulove) later in November at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she would later return for Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro, 2009), and concert performances of Giulietta (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, 2011) and Elvira (I puritani, 2012).

Peretyatko gained international attention for 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.

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.

She made her Lausanne Opera debut in Rossini's Otello in 2010, and returned in 2012 for Handel's Alcina, and L'elisir d'amore.

She received acclaim for her rendition of Mozart roles, including Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Liceu and Susanna in Florence.

The years 2011/12 saw her debuts in some major roles in her career: Adina in L'elisir d'amore in Lille, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor in Palermo, and Fiorilla in Il turco in Italia in Amsterdam.

In 2012, she sang Adina in Baden-Baden and Lucia at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and performed in Carmina Burana under Paavo Järvi at the Rheingau Musik Festival.

She has been performing on leading stages since; she made her Vienna State Opera debut in 2013, and Metropolitan Opera debut in 2014.