The Russian soprano Ljuba Kazarnovskaya received her musical education in Italian bel canto vocal training at the Moscow Conservatory and, for a period of thirteen years, in the art and interpretation of Russian song with Nadjezhda Malysheva, a piano pupil of Konstantin Igumnov, who had studied piano with Anton Rubinstein and composition with Tchaikovsky.
With a distinguished reputation already in Russia, the soprano Ljuba Kazarnovskaya made her international début at the Salzburg Festival, on the invitation of Herbert von Karajan, in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem under Riccardo Muti. Since then her career has taken her to leading opera houses throughout the world, including Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Hamburg, Vienna, Chicago and Houston.
She made her début at La Scala, Milan, in 1996 in Prokofiev’s The Gambler and in 1997 in Rome with Richard Strauss’s Salome. She has appeared with other singers of the greatest distinction under the world’s leading conductors, in a repertoire that includes forty leading rôles in Russian, Italian and German operas.
Ljuba Kazarnovskaya is also distinguished as a recitalist and has a particular love for Lieder. Her interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s songs brought her the Golden Critic’s Award. Her recordings include releases by major record companies both in Russia and abroad. In 2002 IBC of Cambridge in England included her among the outstanding musicians of the twentieth century, and in 2006 she was honoured by the American Biographical Center for her outstanding contribution in the field of classical music in the world.
For Naxos, she has embarked on the recording all 103 songs by Tchaikovsky in a five-CD set. The first volumes of the series have received generous critical acclaim. Her recent projects include new recordings of Eugene Onegin (Tatyana) and The Queen of Spades (Liza and the Countess), three films, recital tours throughout Europe, in Asian countries and Russia, and opera productions of Salome, Tosca and Eugene Onegin. She has her own music show on Russian television.
