Irina Arkhipova

Born Dec. 2, 1925, in Moscow. Soviet Russian opera singer (mezzo-soprano). People’s Artist of the USSR (1966). Member of the CPSU since 1963.

Arkhipova was graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1948 and from the Moscow Conservatory in 1953. She made her debut in the Sverdlovsk Theater of Opera and Ballet and in 1956 was made a soloist with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Arkhipova’s artistry is highly refined; she possesses a powerful voice and is outstanding for her richness of timbre colorations and dramatic talent. Arkhipova has more than 30 parts in her repertoire. The best of these are her Carmen (in Bizet’s work of the same name) and Amneris (in Verdi’s Aida). Arkhipova was the first at the Bolshoi Theater to perform the roles of the deacon’s wife in Janáček’s opera Her Stepdaughter, of Hélène in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, and others. She often appears in concert recitals and has toured many foreign countries. Arkhipova was a deputy to the Sixth Convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.