Irina Novikova is a graduate of the Vocal Faculty of the M.I. Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory (Academy). In 2000, she made her debut in the project Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk under the direction of M.L. Rostropovich on the stages of Munich (Prinzregententheater, Germany), Dijon (France), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colón, Argentina) and Rome (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Italy). She has repeatedly participated in the Russian-German Festival on the stage of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she performed Ein deutsches Requiem (“A German Requiem”) by J. Brahms, the part of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni opera by W.-A. Mozart, and the part of Agathe in Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter) opera by C.M. von Weber (Conductor: G. Kegelmann, Stage Director: P. Raski).
She has taken classes in Italy from such renowned Italian bel canto masters as Lili Shavaia, Paolo de Napoli, Stefano Gibellato, Carlo Pari, Vito Maria Brunetti, Patrizia Callegarini, Carlo Morganti, Inga Balabanova, and Fabio Spizanti.
She has worked with many conductors, among them Mstislav Rostropovich, Teodor Currentzis, Gerald Kegelmann, Thomas Sanderling, Alberto Veronesi, Matteo Beltrami, Dmitri Jurowski, Mikhail Tatarnikov, Alevtina Ioffe, Vladimir Tkachenko, Mikhail Granovsky, Andrey Semenov, Dmitry Kryukov, Evgeny Volynsky, Dmitry Korchak, Ainars Rubikis, Valentin Uryupin, Arkady Steinlucht.
During her career, Irina has toured in Zurich (Switzerland), Florence (Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Italy), Montefano (Teatro La Rondinella, Italy), Tallinn (Estonia), Seoul, Busan, Jeonju (Arts Center, South Korea), Shandong (China), Astana, Karaganda, Temirtau (Kazakhstan), she has also appeared at the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Ulaanbaatar), the Chelyabinsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Mikhail Glinka (Chelyabinsk), the Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (Ulan-Ude), the Tomsk State Regional Philharmonic, and the Omsk Philharmonic.
Since 2008, she has been a soloist of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Since August 2025, Irina Novikova has been a soloist of the Opera Company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre.
Repertoire includes:
Tosca (Tosca, G. Puccini);
Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly, G. Puccini);
Mimi (La bohème, G. Puccini);
Liù (Turandot, G. Puccini);
Desdemona (Otello, G. Verdi);
Aida (Aida, G. Verdi);
Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera, G. Verdi);
Alice (Falstaff, G. Verdi);
Nedda (Pagliacci, R. Leoncavallo);
Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni, W.-A. Mozart);
Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro, W.-A. Mozart);
Elizabeth (Tannhäuser, R. Wagner);
Katya (Katya Kabanova, L. Janacek);
Micaёla (Carmen, G. Bizet);
Francesca (Francesca da Rimini, S. Rachmaninoff);
Liza (The Queen of Spades, P. Tchaikovsky);
Tatiana (Eugene Onegin, P. Tchaikovsky);
Iolanta (Iolanta, P. Tchaikovsky);
Kupava (The Snow Maiden, N. Rimsky-Korsakov);
Yaroslavna (Prince Igor, A. Borodin);
Natasha (The Mermaid, A. Dargomyzhsky);
Dido (Dido and Aeneas, G. Purcell);
Les Noces, I. Stravinsky.
Her concert repertoire includes: Requiem by G. Verdi, Requiem by W.A. Mozart, Stabat Mater by G. Rossini, Symphony No. 14 by D. Shostakovich, Symphony No. 9 by L. van Beethoven.
