MARGARITA GRITSKOVA - Mezzo-Soprano
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.
