Pakul, Elfrida
Pakul’, El’frida Ianovna
(Elfrīda Pakule). Born May 20 (June 2), 1912, in Riga. Soviet coloratura soprano. People’s Artist of the Latvian SSR (1947). Member of the CPSU since 1952.
Pakul’ made her debut as a concert singer in 1938. In 1940 and 1941 and from 1944 to 1956 she was a soloist at the Latvian Theater of Opera and Ballet in Riga. Between 1941 and 1944 she worked in Ivanovo and Moscow philharmonic societies, and between 1956 and 1970 in the Latvian Philharmonic Society. Her best roles have included Antonida in Ginka’s Ivan Susanin, the title role in Delibes’s Lakmé, Violetta and Gilda in Verdi’s La Traviata, and Rigoletto, and Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Seville.
Pakul’ was a deputy to the second and third convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1946 she was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for her concert performances; she has also received the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and several medals.