Maria Guleghina

Maria Agasovna Guleghina (Russian: Mapия Aгacoвнa Гулeгинa, Ukrainian: Марія Агасівна Гулегіна, Armenian: Մարիա Գուլեգինա, née Meytardjan (Russian: Мейтарджян); born August 9, 1959) is a soprano opera singer born in Odessa (USSR, now in Ukraine), particularly associated with the Italian repertory.

Maria Guleghina was born in Odessa, Ukraine (during the Soviet Era), to an Armenian father and a Ukrainian mother, where she studied voice at the Music Conservatory with Evgeny Nikolaevich Ivanov (under whose tutorship she remained even after graduation).

Guleghina made her stage debut in 1985 as Yolantha at the State Opera in Minsk (Belarus) shortly before leaving USSR to pursue an international career.

Her international debut came in 1987 as Amelia (opposite Luciano Pavarotti's Riccardo) in a production of Un ballo in maschera at La Scala. Leading roles in I due Foscari, Manon Lescaut, and Tosca followed, and soon she was engaged to perform in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, London, and other major European opera houses. She made her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1995, in the killer-role of Abigaille in Nabucco.

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