Larisa Aleksandrovskaia

Born Feb. 2 (15), 1904. Byelorussian operatic artist (soprano), director, public figure; People’s Artist of the USSR (1940). Member of the CPSU since 1942. Made her debut as a singer in 1920 with the Glavpolitprosvet (chief political education) troupe on the western front. Educated at the Bel-muztekhnikum Studio of Opera and Ballet in Minsk (1924–33); student of V. A. Tsvetkov and A. P. Bonachich.

In 1933, Aleksandrovskaia became an artist at the Byelorussian Opera and Ballet Theater. Her roles included Marysia and Alesia (Mikhas’ Podgornyi and Alesia by Tikotskii), Nadeika (Flower of Good Fortune by Turen-kov), Tat’iana and Liza (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades), Liubasha (The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov), Iaroslavna (Prince Igor by Borodin), Marguerite (Faust by Gounod), and Carmen (Carmen by Bizet). The interpretations she presented were distinguished by sincerity, depth, and vivid characterization; they were full of lyricism.

Since 1951 she has worked also as the chief director of the Byelorussian Opera and Ballet Theater in Minsk. She has staged Dnieper Cossack Beyond the Danube by Gulak-Artemovskii (1951), Terrible Court by Moniushko (1952), Aïda by Verdi (1953), Girl from Poles’ia by Tikotskii (1953), Boris Godunov by Musorgsky (1954), Nadezhda Durova by Bogatyrev (1956), and other works. She also performs as a concert artist.

Aleksandrovskaia has been selected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia (1952, 1954, and 1956). She was deputy of the second, third, and fourth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and of the third, fourth, and fifth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. She received the State Prize of the USSR in 1941. She has been awarded three Orders of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.