Olesya Golovneva

Russian soprano Olesya Golovneva, already named "Best Singer of the Year" for her performances as Anna Bolena and Luisa Miller, has been nominated for the German Theatre Prize FAUST for her interpretation of Rusalka at the Cologne Opera. Her enthusiastically received performance as Silvana in Respighi's La Fiamma, with which she opened the previous season at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, is now available on DVD.

Golovneva opens the 2025/26 season with her signature role as Tatiana in Christof Loy's production of Eugene Onegin at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. She will also sing the role of Els in the revival of Franz Schreker's Der Schatzgräber at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Later in the season, she is engaged as Turandot at both the Cologne Opera and the Frankfurt Opera.

Among the important engagements of recent seasons are her celebrated role debuts as Turandot at the Wiesbaden State Theatre and as Katia Kabanova at the Hamburg State Opera, Valentine alongside Juan Diego Flórez in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, the soprano part in Christian Spuck's choreography of Verdi's Requiem at the Deutsche Oper Berlinand, the role debut as Salome at Grand Théâtre de Genève and the revival of Salome at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The artist has a particularly close relationship with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she has celebrated great successes as Maria Stuarda, Gilda, Elisabetta, Luisa Miller, Donna Anna, and Traviata. She also collaborates regularly with the Cologne Opera, which has presented as Natasha in War and Peace, as well as Anna Bolena, Lucia, Tatiana, and Vitellia. She has sung Traviata in Dresden, Munich, Prague, at the Wiesbaden May Festival, in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, and Antibes. Other important Verdi roles include Luisa Miller, which she debuted at the Malmö Opera; Simone-Amelia, with which she debuted at the Opéra de Marseille; and Gilda, which she has performed at the Zurich Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others. The artist also sang her first Mimi in La Bohème at the Malmö Opera and was able to repeat her success in the role at the Frankfurt Opera, where she was also successful as Rusalka and Don Carlo Elisabetta.

Olesya Golovneva comes from Pskov in Russia and graduated with distinction from her studies in St. Petersburg and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Prof. Robert Holl, specializing in Lied and oratorio. She is a prize winner of the N. Rimsky-Korsakov Competition and the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch.