Russian soprano Olesya Golovneva, who has already been named "Best Singer of the Year" for her performances as Anna Bolena and Luisa Miller, was nominated for the German theater award FAUST for her interpretation of Rusalka at the Cologne Opera.
At the invitation of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the soprano will make her role debut as Salome in a new production of the Strauss Opera under the musical direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste and directed by Kornél Mundruczó. The Deutsche Oper Berlin invited her for her role debut as Silvana in the new production La fiamma. The same company presents Olesya Golovneva as Salome during the Strauss Tage Berlin. At Theater Basel, the artist will take on the role of Turandot, which she debuted with overwhelming success last season at Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
Among the important engagements of the past seasons are her role debuts as Turandot at Staatstheater Wiesbaden and as Katia Kabanova at Staatsoper Hamburg, Valentine opposite to Juan Diego Florez in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots and the soprano part in Christian Spuck’s outstanding choreographic version of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at Deutsche Oper Berlin; her triumphant debut as Rusalka at Teatro Real Madrid and at Palau de les Arts Valencia; her role debuts in the leading soprano parts of Puccini’s Trittico at Staatstheater Wiesbaden as well as her debut as stage director of Rusalka at this very house; Desdemona in Otello next to Roberto Saccà at the Frankfurt Opera and next to Gregory Kunde at the Wiesbaden State Theater; Tatjana in Eugen Onegin in productions of Staatsoper Hamburg, the Finnish National Opera Helsinki, the Cologne Opera and the Wiesbaden State Theater, where she also appeared as Vitellia in Clemenza di Tito. The artist is particularly attached to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and has enjoyed great success here as Maria Stuarda, Gilda, Elisabetta, Luisa Miller, Donna Anna and Traviata. There is also a regular collaboration the Cologne Opera, which presented the soprano as Natascha in War and Peace, as Anna Bolena, Lucia, Tatjana and Vitellia. Traviata she sang 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 the Malmö Opera, Simone-Amelia for her house debut at Opéra de Marseille and Gilda, which she sang at the Zurich Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. At Malmo Opera the artist sang her first Mimi in La Bohème and could repeat her success in this very role at the Frankfurt Opera, where she was successful as Rusalka and Don Carlo-Elisabetta as well.
Olesya Golovneva was most recently heard in concert with Beethoven’s Symphony Nr. 9 in Lausanne, Rachmaninov's Die Glocken at Konzerthaus Dortmund, in Dvoraks Te Deum in Utrecht and Amsterdam, at WDR with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and in the Wiener Musikverein with Franz Welser-Möst conducting. The artist's recordings include Iolanta with Dmitri Kitajenko on CD and Luisa Miller as well as La Boheme as DVD from the Malmö Opera.
Olesya Golovneva was born in Pskov/Russia and completed her studies in St. Petersburg and at the University of Music in Vienna with Prof. Robert Holl with distinction. She is a winner of the N. Rimskyj-Korsakow competition and the International Vocal Competition- S' Hertogenbosch.