Margarita Gritskova is a russian Mezzo-Soprano opera singer
She was born in Sankt Petersburg, studied piano and singing in her
hometown and graduated 2010 at the State Academy of Music in the class
of Irina Bogatschewa. A memorable event during her studies was the performance
of Bizet’s Carmen at the Opera Theatre of the Academy of Music with
Margarita in the leading role and Maestro Mariss Jansons conducting.
Already as a student, Margarita Gritskova won prizes at the Luciano
Pavarotti-Competition in Modena ин 2008 and the Concurso Internacional
de Canto Villa de Colmenar in Spain in 2009.
Immediately after graduating, she was engaged at the National Theater
in Weimar, from where started her international career. She appeared
in a wide repertoire from Ottone ("L’incoronazione di Popea" by Monteverdi)
and Bradamante ("Alcina" by G.F.Händel),
Cherubino ("Le nozze di Figaro"
by W.A.Mozart) to Bizet’s Carmen.
October 2011 marks her first appearance in North America as
Olga
("Eugen Onegin") at the Opera de Quebec in Canada.
Since 2012 Margarita Gritskova has been a member of the ensemble
of the Vienna State Opera, where she became very soon an audience favorite.
Her appearance at the Vienna Opera Ball in February 2014, transmitted
by many major TV channels, made her name known worldwide. She sang all
major roles for mezzosoprano in the Mozart and Rossini Repertoire ranging
from - Cherubino, Idamante,
Annio, Sesto,
Dorabella, Bradamante,
Rosina,
Angelina ("Cenerentola"), Isabella ("L‘Italiana in Algeri"), as well
as Olga ("Eugen Onegin"), Krista in the premiere of "Makropulos" (directed
by Peter Stein) and Masha in the premiere production of "Three Sisters"
by Peter Eotvos (directed by Yuval Sharon). Subsequently Maestro Peter
Eotvos devoted his romance to Margarita, written on Marina Tsvetaeva’s
poem "Bitterness".
In January 2018 she sang her first Carmen in Vienna, with Piotr Beczala
as Don José.
Margarita Gritskova represents the Vienna State Opera also on tours.
She sang Cherubino at the Vienna State Opera’s guest performances in
Japan in fall 2016 under Riccardo Muti and in April 2018 in Aix-en-
Provence under Alain Altinoglu.
Margarita Gritskova appears already at renowned festivals, such as
the Salzburg festival, the Festivale de Opera in Tenerifa, the
Rossini
Festival in Pesaro and the Schleswig-Holstein
Festival among others.
She sings at leading opera houses, such as the Bavarian State Opera
in Munich, the State Opera Hamburg, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the
State Opera Zurich, the Opera theaters in Oslo
and in Valencia.
In the year 2018 Margarita was voted the best mezzo-soprano of the
Opera season 17/18 in the Palau Les Arts Valencia.
Highlights of her career are concerts with world famous tenor José
Carreras in Vienna, Moscow, St.Petersburg, Innsbruck, Oviedo, at
Covent
Garden in London in May 2017 and at Carnegie Hall in New York in September
2017.
Additionally Margarita Gritskova pays particular attention to chamber
art, such love of art was cultivated in Margarita by an eminent chamber
singer Nelly Lee.
She made her debut at Vienna’s Musikverein in 2015 with a song recital
with pianist Thomas Lausmann.
In 2014 she appeared at premieres of the Rossini festival in Bad
Wildbad as Ottone in «Adelaide in Borgogna» and in 2016 in the title
role of Sigismondo (conductor Antonino Fogliani). Recordings of both
premieres released by Naxos-Records.
Together with pianist Maria Prinz, she works on different programs
for song recitals, some of which they presented in concerts in Sofia
(Bulgaria) and at the Russian cultural institute in Vienna in 2017.
In February 2018, both artists recorded a CD with works by Tchaikovsky,
Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninoff, which was published by Naxos in March
2019.
For Naxos, they have also recorded two more CDs with songs by Prokofiev
and Shostakovich in 2019, which will be released shortly.
