Irina Shishkova

Irina Shishkova graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov Musical College as a pianist and vocalist and studied at the Vocal Department of the St Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire. In 2008, as a sophomore, she made her debut with the Novosibirsk Opera performing the title role in Bizet’s Carmen. With this production, she has also toured to Seoul. At the Novosibirsk Opera, she has also performed Polina and Milovzor in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and Siébel in Gounod’s Faust.
Since 2010, she has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers. At the Mariinsky Theatre, she has performed the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Clarice in Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Siébel in the newest production of Gounod’s Faust under the baton of Valery Gergiev, Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, the Spring in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Snow Maiden, and Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
In 2011, she made her debut with the Latvian National Opera performing Olga in Eugene Onegin. In 2011, she also performed at the Crescendo Festival (artistic director — Denis Matsuev) and at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Dmitry Liss. In 2013, she performed the mezzo-soprano part in Prokofiev’s cantata Alexander Nevsky with the Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands under the baton of Mikhail Tatarnikov. In 2013, she also performed in concerts of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers at the Genève Opera Theatre, Wigmore Hall in London, Bordeaux National Opera, Serate Musicali Concert Hall in Milano, St-Pierre-Des-Cuisines in Tulusa, Prince Regent Theatre in Munich and Brucknerhaus Concert Hall in Linz. In 2014, she performed Olga in Eugene Onegin at the Genève Opera (production by Robert Carsen, conductor — Mikhail Jurowski). In 2015, she appeared in the Moscow Kremlin, performing the prologue aria from Molchanov’s Dawns Here are Quiet with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Valery Gergiev.
Since 2014, she has collaborated with the Mikhailovsky Opera. At the Mikhailovsky Theatre, she has appeared as Lyubasha in Andrey Moguchy’s production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tsar’s Bride, Olga in Andriy Zholdak’s and Vasily Barkhatov’s productions of Eugene Onegin and Cherubino in Vyacheslav Starodubtsev’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro.