Olga Borodina is one of the great Russian stars of the early 21^st century.

The Russian mezzo, born on July 29, 1963, has built a solid international career all around the world, singing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, among others.

She is treasured in her native Russia, earning a distinction as the People’s Artist of Russia in 2002 and the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2006.

She is also a first prize winner of the 1998 Rosa Ponselle Vocal Competition and a recipient of the 2007 Opera News Award.

Major Roles

While Borodina has taken on a number of dramatic roles in her recent years, her greatest success came from her interpretation of one major French opera – “Samson et Dalila.”

For years she was the go-to interpreter of the Saint-Saëns work, making her debut at the Royal Opera House in the role and also appearing in the opera at the Metropolitan Opera on opening night in 1998.

“Throughout Act II, Borodina was vocally seductive, revealing little by little the possibilities of her voice until she exploited the full richness of her lower range and demonstrated remarkable control,” stated OPERANEWS’ review of her final US run of the production.

Read More on Borodina

OperaWire’s Artist of the Week

A Deeper Dive Into Her Signature Role

Watch and Listen

A famed excerpt from “Samson et Dalila” with Plácido Domingo.”

And here she is in Verdi’s “Aida.”