Elena Sommer

Mezzo soprano

Prize-winner at the Verona International Vocalists' Competition (Italy, 1999).

Elena Sommer was born in Omsk. Graduated from the vocal faculty of the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of I.P. Levando). Joined the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers in 2000.
With the Mariinsky Opera Company since 2008.

Roles performed at the Mariinsky Theatre include:
Nanny (Eugene Onegin)
Laura (Iolanta in concert)
Nezhata (Sadko)
Smeraldina (The Love for Three Oranges)
Gipsy Matryosha (War and Peace)
Little Robber (The Story of Kai and Gerda)
Plyushkin (Dead souls, in concert)
Venus (Tsar Demian)
Minerva (Cephalus and Prokris in concert)
Modestina, Maddalena (Il viaggio a Reims)
Meg Page (Falstaff)
Frugola (Il tabarro)
Cesca (Gianni Schicchi in concert)
Marcelina (Le nozze di Figaro)
Second Lady (Die Zauberflцte)
Erda (Das Rheingold)
Grimgerda (Die Walkьre)
Composer, Dryad (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Servant (Elektra)

Moreover, the singer's repertoire includes the roles of Olga (Eugene Onegin), the Countess and Polina (The Queen of Spades), Marta (Iolanta), Lyubasha (The Tsar's Bride), Duenna (Betrothal in a Monastery), Amneris (Aida), Siebel, Marta (Faust), Didon (Les Troyens), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Witch, Didon (Didon and Aeneas), the mezzo-soprano roles in Handel's Brockes Passion and Dixit Dominus, Bach's Magnificat, Johannespassion and Christmas Oratorio, Haydn's Stabat Mater, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Schoenberg's cycle Pierrot Lunaire.

Together with the Mariinsky Opera Company, Elena Sommer has performed at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Thйвtre du Chвtelet (Paris), the Alexander Theatre (Helsinki), the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia (Moscow) and the Wagner Theatre in Bayreuth (Germany); she has also toured to Los Angeles, Madrid and Tokyo. She has taken part in the Moscow Easter Festival and festivals in Mikkeli, Baden-Baden and Vladikavkaz.
She has performed as a guest soloist with the Latvian National Opera (Riga), appearing as Waltraute (Der Ring des Nibelungen tetralogy, conducted by Andris Nelsons) and the Hall aux Grains (Toulouse), performing as Olga (Eugene Onegin, Orchestre du Capitole du Toulouse, conducted by Tugan Sokhiev). Has toured to the USA as part of the programme Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion.