Larisa Avdeyeva

Larisa Avdeyeva
Лариса Авдеева
Avdeyeva as Gertrude in Bánk bán, 1959
Born	(1925-06-21)21 June 1925 Moscow, Soviet Union
Died	10 March 2013(2013-03-10) (aged 87) Moscow, Russia
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	Mezzo-soprano
Years active	1947-1983
Spouse	Yevgeny Svetlanov

Larisa Ivanovna Avdeyeva or Avdeeva (Russian: Лариса Ивановна Авдеева; 21 June 1925 – 10 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian mezzo-soprano, who starred with the Bolshoi Opera for thirty years. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1964).

Larisa Ivanovna Avdeyeva was born on 21 June 1925^[1] in Moscow to a family of opera singers. Though surrounded by music and performing in a children's glee club from age eleven, Avdeyeva initially wanted to study architecture. After World War II, she entered college to study construction, but a year later changed over to music.^[2] She studied at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre from 1945 to 1946, and the following year began working as a soloist at the Stanislavsky Musical Theatre of Moscow.^[1] Among the roles she performed were Olga in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Varvara^[2] in the 1950 premiere of Frol Skobeyev by Tikhon Khrennikov, Mistress of Copper Mountain the 1951 premier of Kamenniy tsvetok (based on the story The Stone Flower) by Kirill Molchanov^[1] and Kosova in the 1952 production of V buryu (Into the Storm) by Khrennikov. She made her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1952 reprising her earlier role of Olga.^[2]

She was a mezzo-soprano and quickly became a lead singer for those roles, performing as Spring in The Snow Maiden by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Martha in Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky. Avdeyeva excelled in the Rimsky-Korsakov roles of Ljubasha in The Tsar's Bride and Lel in The Snow Maiden and Carmen in the Georges Bizet opera of the same name.^[2] Some of her later roles included Princess in Tchaikovsky’s Enchantress, Konchakovna in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Akhrosimova in Prokofiev's War and Peace^[1] and the Commissar in Kholminov’s Optimisticheskaya tragediya. She also performed in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States.^[3] Making a 1975 trip to the US, Avdeyeva's portrayal of the Countess in War and Peace was described as "not only acted [but] sung superbly".^[4]

In addition to her 30 years of live appearances with the Bolshoi, for four decades Avdeyeva recorded with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, which was directed by her husband Yevgeny Svetlanov.^[5] She recorded Scriabin's Symphony No. 1 In E Major, Op. 26;^[6] in 1969,^[7] Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures & Symphony No. 2 in 1977;^[8] Tchaikovsky's "Onegin" in 1979; and Prokofiev's "Voina i mir" in 1983, among many other titles.^[7] Avdeyeva appeared in the 1951 film Большой концерт (Grand Concert)^[9] and played the role of Marina in the 1954 film Boris Godunov, both directed by Vera Stroyeva.^[10] In 1964, she was awarded the People's Artist of the RSFSR.^[3]

Adveyeva died on 10 March 2013 in Moscow.^[11]

• Macy, Laura Williams (2008). The Grove Book of Opera Singers. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533765-5.