Russian soprano Olesya Golovneva, already named "Best Singer of the Year" for her performances as Anna Bolena and Luisa Miller, was nominated for the German Theatre Prize FAUST for her interpretation of Rusalka at Cologne Opera. Her enthusiastically received performance as Silvana in Respighi's La Fiamma , with which she opened the previous season at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, is now available on DVD.

In the 2026/27 season, Olesya Golovneva will make three significant role debuts: She will appear as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, before making her role debut as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth in a new production by Barrie Kosky in Rome, conducted by Juraj Valčuha. Another role debut will take her to the Stuttgart State Opera, where she will sing the role of Polina in Prokofiev's The Gambler for the first time. She will also return to the stage of Frankfurt Opera as Turandot.

Among the highlights of recent seasons are Tatiana in Christof Loy's production of Eugene Onegin at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo and Turandot at the Cologne Opera and Oper Frankfurt; her celebrated role debuts as Silvana (La Fiamma) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Loy/Rizzi), Salome at the Grand Théâtre de Genève (Mundruzco/Saraste), as Turandot at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden (Kerck-Gamzou) and Katya Kabanova at the Hamburg State Opera, as well as Valentine alongside Juan Diego Flórez in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots and the soprano part in Christian Spuck's choreography of Verdi's Requiem at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Further highlights include her triumphant house debuts as Rusalka at the Teatro Real Madrid and the Palau de les Arts Valencia, as well as her directorial debut with Rusalke at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where she also made her debuts in the major soprano roles of Puccini's Trittico; She has appeared as Desdemona in Otello alongside Roberto Saccà at Oper Frankfurt and alongside Gregory Kunde at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, and as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at the Hamburg State Opera, Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, the Cologne Opera, and the Wiesbaden State Theatre, where she also sang Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito. The artist has a particularly close relationship with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she has enjoyed great success as Maria Stuarda, Gilda, Elisabetta, Luisa Miller, Donna Anna, and Violetta in La Traviata. She also collaborates regularly with Oper Köln, where she has appeared as Natasha in War and Peace, as well as Anna Bolena, Lucia, Tatiana, and Vitellia. She has sung La Traviata in Dresden, Munich, Prague, at the Wiesbaden May Festival, in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bonn, and Antibes. Other important Verdi roles include Luisa Miller, which she debuted at Malmö Opera; Amelia in Simon Boccanegra , with which she made her debut at the Opéra de Marseille; and Gilda, which she has performed at venues including the Zurich Opera House and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. At Malmö Opera, the artist sang her first Mimì in La bohème and was able to replicate her success in the role at the... Oper Frankfurt repeat, in which she was also successful as Rusalka and Don Carlo - Elisabetta.
Olesya Golovneva's recent concert engagements include Rachmaninoff's The Bells at the Konzerthaus Dortmund, Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Lausanne, Dvorak's Te Deum in Utrecht and Amsterdam, as well as performances with the WDR Symphony Orchestra with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and at the Vienna Musikverein under Franz Welser-Möst.
Her recordings of the artist currently include Iolanta with Dmitri Kitajenko on CD, as well as Luisa Miller and La bohème from Malmö Opera on DVD.
Born in Pskov, Russia, Olesya Golovneva completed her studies in St Petersburg and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she graduated with distinction in Lied and Oratorio under Prof. Robert Holl. She is a prizewinner of the Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Competition and the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch.
2026/27
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