Vasilisa Berzhanskaya
Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya was a member of the Youth Opera Program of the Bolshoi Theatre from 2015 to 2017, where she worked under the guidance of Professor Dmitry Vdovin. In 2016, she became a member of the Rossini Opera Academy in Pesaro, under the direction of Alberto Zedda. It is at the Rossini Opera Festival, that she sang the role of Marchesa Melibea in Rossini’s IL VIAGGIO A REIMS, after which she performs in Rossini’s GIOVANNA D’ARCO cantata at the Moscow International Performing Arts Center. She makes her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2016 in Mozart’s COSÌ FAN TUTTE and Rossini’s cantata GIOVANNA D‘ARCO. From 2017 to 2019, she was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In 2017, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya was member of the Salzburg Festival’s Young Artists Program. In that same season, she sang Angelina in Rossini’s LA CENERENTOLA at Theater Basel, as well as making her debut as Rosina in Rossini’s IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA at the Deutsche Oper and at the Mikhailovsy Theater St. Petersburg. She also made her debut as Siebel in FAUST and she performed the role of Marchesa Melibea in Rossini’s IL VIAGGIO A REIMS in a new production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
The 2018/2019 season was marked by her role debuts as Fenena in NABUCCO and Olga in EVGENIJ ONEGIN in Berlin. Other role debuts include Vagaus in JUDITHA TRIUMPHANS by Vivaldi at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; Aristea in L’OLIMIPIADE by Vivaldi in Basel and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Angelina in LA CENERENTOLA by Rossini at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Diana in ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS by Offenbach at the Salzburg Opera Festival.
The following season, she appeared as Romeo in I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, as Isabella in L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI at the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, as well as making her return as Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA to the Theater Basel and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Among her more recent and future engagements are: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA in Munich; LA CLEMENZA DI TITO in Florence conducted by M° Zubin Mehta; MOÏSE ET PHARAON at Rossini Opera Festival and in Aix en Provence; MAOMETTO II at Teatro San Carlo in Naples; LA CERENTOLA at Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna; NABUCCO at Covent Garden in London; L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Berzhanskaya has worked with renowned conductors such as Giampaolo Bisanti, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniele Gatti, Mariss Jansons, Vladimir and Dmitri Jurowski, Andrea Marcon, Enrique Mazzola, Stefano Montanari, Donald Runnicles, Giacomo Sagripanti, Alexander Vedernikov and others.
She is a graduate of the Russian Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow, where she studied under guidance of Ruzanna Lisitsian. She is a laureate of the Elena Obraztsova International Competition of Chamber Music (2nd Prize and Special Prize for best performance of 20th century composers’ music, 2014); at the Grand Opera television contest (2nd Prize); at the Culture TV channel (2nd Prize, 2014); at the Muslim Magomaev International Competition in Moscow (Grand Prix Price, 2016); at the Debut Classical Singing Competition in Germany (First Prize and Audience Prize, 2018), as well as the Viotti Singing Competition (3rd and Audience prize, 2018). Recently, she won “The International Opera Awards 2020” as the best young singer of the year.