Olga Pudova was outstandingly good, the sweetness of the voice, timing and intonation never faltering. She also clearly adores doing the role, executing the “clockwork running down” moves brilliantly and staying in character through the extended applause at the end of "Les oiseaux dans la charmille”.
David Karlin, 31 July 2017, Bachtrack
Olga Pudova graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 2006 (class of Grayr Khanedanian). In 2001 she entered the Mariinsky Academy of Young Opera Singers. She made her Mariinsky Theatre debut in 2006 as Contessa di Folleville (Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims). Mariinsky Opera soloist since 2017.
In 2011 the singer was awarded the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg's most prestigious theatre prize for the role of Zerbinetta in the Mariinsky Theatre's production of Ariadne auf Naxos.
In 2012 Olga Pudova took part in the Salzburg Festival's Young Singers Project, during which she attended master-classes conducted by Thomas Hampson, Christa Ludwig, Michael Schade and Helmut Deutsch. Also undertook further studies at the International Summer Academy in Mikkeli.
In 2013 the singer made her debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, performing the role of Königin der Nacht in a premiere of a new production of Die Zauberflöte.
She subsequently sang that role at the Opéra de Paris, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin's Komische Oper, Turin's Teatro Regio, La Fenice, the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Flemish Opera among other theatres.
Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre includes:
Lyudmila (Ruslan and Lyudmila)
The Snow Maiden (The Snow Maiden)
The Queen of Shemakha (The Golden Cockerel)
Swan-Princess (The Tale of Tsar Saltan)
Nightingale (The Nightingale)
Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Contessa di Folleville (Il viaggio a Reims)
Adina (L'elisir d'amore)
Gilda (Rigoletto)
Nannetta (Falstaff)
Oscar (Un ballo di maschera)
Madame Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor)
Königin der Nacht (Die Zauberflöte)
Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann)
Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
In concert perfomances:
Sandrina (La finta giardiniera)
La Fée (Cendrillon)
Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles)
Marie (La fille du régiment)
Amina (La sonnambula)
Cunegonde (Candide)
Repertoire also includes:
Giunia (Lucio Silla), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Norina (Don Pasquale), Fiakermilli (Arabella), Nightingale (The Nightingale), soprano solo in Rachmaninoff's The Bells. At the Mariinsky Theatre Olga Pudova has sung at premieres of Ariadne auf Naxos (2011), Les Contes d'Hoffmann (2011), Il barbiere di Siviglia (2014), The Golden Cockerel (2014) and Der Schauspieldirektor (2017). As a guest soloist she has appeared at the Zurich Opera (Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos), the Bayerische Staatsoper (Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann), the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and the Edinburgh International Festival (La Fée in Massenet's Cendrillon), the Latvian National Opera and the Tatar Musa Jalil Opera and Ballet Theatre (title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and Gilda in Rigoletto).
In the 2015–2016 season she sang as Giunia in a semi-staged production of Mozart's opera Lucio Silla under Laurence Ekilbe at the Philharmonie de Paris, the Royal Opera of Versailles, the Theater an der Wien and the Komische Oper in Berlin among other theatres. Has taken part in Mariinsky Opera tours to Baden-Baden (Il viaggio a Reims) and Turku (Ariadne auf Naxos), as well as concerts by the Academy of Young Singers in Great Britain, France, Finland, Austria, the USA, Germany, Italy and Norway.
