Valeriya Barsova

Valeriya Vladimirovna Barsova was a Russian soprano born in Astrakhan in 1892 and who died in Sochi in 1967. She was part of the generation of singers who brought Russian opera to Soviet stages in the 1920s. Her initial training was undertaken by her sister, Mariya Vladimirova, after which she studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Umberto Mazetti.

She made her debut in 1919 with the Zimin Private Opera in Moscow and, from 1920, was a soloist at the Bolshoi until 1948. She also sang at the opera studios of Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Her voice, of a clear and silvery timbre, was complemented by an agile technique and an expressive warmth that stands out. She took on roles by Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as Gilda, Violetta and Leonora in Il trovatore, Butterfly, Musetta, Lakmé and Manon. After 1929 she toured Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, Poland, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.