Olga Chernisheva, Soprano

Biography Announced by Opera Online as the best leading female singer in North East in season 2006-2007,and the most dynamic couple with Orlin Goranov for Butterfly in both 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 seasons, described by critics as possessing "a pure, strong soprano with phrasing of sumptuous elegance' (San Francisco Chronicle) , "a strong voice, with well-rounded tone and fullness in all registers" (San Francisco Classical Voice),voice all power and glinting steel" (Boston Globe) and "a lyric voice focused and alluring... subtly expressive" (Opera News), "show stopping" (Opera Online), Olga Chernisheva is one of most interesting and distinctive young singing actresses to emerge on the American scene during the past few years. A native of Russia, Ms. Chernisheva appeared on the stages of the Bolshoi Opera (Maria in Mazeppa, Prilepa in Pique Dame, Brigittain Iolanta, Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress, Musettain La Boheme, to name a few), Kazan Opera Theater (Mimi in La Boheme), Stanislavsky Opera Theater (Micaela in Carmen), and Mälmo Opera Theater in Sweden (Musetta) before emigrating to the U.S.A., where she has appeared with West Bay Opera and Di Capo Opera in the title role of Manon Lescaut, Illinois Opera Theater and Teatro Lirico d'Europa as Tosca, with Tampa Opera as Musetta in La Boheme, with Golden Gate Opera as Suor Angelica, with Pensacola Opera as Violetta in La Traviata, Teatro Lirico d'Europa as Mimi in La Boheme and Micaela in Carmen, with Hong Kong Opera and Boheme Opera as Liu in Turandot and with Cedar Rapids Opera Golden Gate Opera, Martinez Opera, Teatro Lirico d'Europa and Gold Coast Opera as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. She has appeared on the concert stages of Opera Santa Barbara in an evening of music by Giocomo Puccini, DiCapo Opera (Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini), in Russia at the Nizhny Novgorod Concert Hall for Bach'sMass in B-minor, at the Grand Hallof the Moscow State Conservatory for Mahler's Sympony No. 4 and for Orff's Carmina Burana, Moscow's Cathedral Catholic Church for Bach's Easter Oratorio, as a featured soloist for both the Notti Musicali Modenesi Festival and Costa Rica's XIII Festival de Musica Credomatic; and as a featured soloist for the political-cultural event entitled 'Days of Russian Culture in Bulgaria, jointly sponsored by the Russian and Bulgarian Ministries of Culture and attended by the presidents of both countries. In 1996, Ms. Chernishevawon first prize in the Moscow's 'Bella Voce Vocal Competition' and, in 1999, won their grand prize. In 2000, she received a special award at the International Bulbul Vocal Competition in Baku, and an award at the Moscow art festival Festos. In 2006 she became a first prize and special award winner in Rose Palmai-Tenser Vocal Competition and prize vinner in Opera Index Competition, she participated in BASOTI, where she sung Fiordeligi in Cosi Fan Tutte. In 2002, she participated in San Francisco Opera Center Merola Opera Program for young singers and sang Musetta with Western Opera on tour. Olga Chernisheva studied at Moscow's Gnessin Music College from 1992 until 1996, and at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory from 1996 until 2002. In addition to her vocal studies, Olga has studied piano, dance, figure skating, and acting.