Popular arias by Mozart, Bellini, Gounod, and Puccini, romances by Rachmaninoff, and lullabies selected by the internationally renowned soprano feature in the programme of Olga Peretyatko's first-ever performance at the Budapest Opera House. At the 21 January recital, she is joined on stage by pianist Matthias Samuil.
Born in St. Petersburg, Olga Peretyatko started her musical career singing in the children’s chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre. After graduating as a chorus master, she went on to study at the Hanns Eisler-Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, the opera studio at the Hamburg State Opera, and the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro. Her international breakthrough came in 2007 when she won second place in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Singing Competition, and for a decade and a half she has been recurring guest at major opera houses, festivals,and concert halls such as La Scala in Milan, the Berlin State Opera, London’s Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan Opera, and many more. The soprano, who has also been awarded for her recordings, is returning to Budapest after a 2019 concert at Müpa, where she was accompanied by the Hungarian State Orchestra.
Olga Peretyatko currently portrays Leila in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles at the Berlin State Opera (partnered by Hungarian baritone Gyula Orendt as Zurga), in February she will make her debut in Hamburg in the title role of Norma, then in March she will portray Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Bologna City Theater, while last November she appeared in La rondine by Puccini at the Teatro Regio, Turin. On the occasion of her debut at the Budapest Opera, the acclaimed soprano showcases her talent in all these work, in addition to excerpts from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Puccini's Turandot, in which she sang the role of Liù last season, also in Berlin.
In addition to the arias, Olga Peretyatko presents songs by Rachmaninov, including arrangements of poems by Galina, Pushkin, and Turgenev. The recital also features a more personal selection by the excellent soprano, praised both for her versatility and her voice, namely, lullabies from the album Песни для Майи (Songs for Maya), compiled for her daughter born in 2021. Beside Gounod's Serenade, Puccini's E l'uccellino, Tosti's Ninna Nanna, and Gershwin's Summertime, pieces by two 20th-century Brazilian composers, Cláudio Santoro and Altino Pimenta also feature in her programme.
Peretyatko's partner for the evening is pianist Matthias Samuil, one of the busiest piano accompanists of his generation. As an accompanist and a chamber musician, he is a regular performer in prestigious concert halls in Europe and South America, and on numerous recordings. The pianist, who often performs with Peretyatko, also graduated from the Berlin Hanns Eisler College of Music, where he has been teaching opera and song interpretation for more than a decade. During his debut at the Opera House he is to perform two solo pieces as well, part one of Rachmaninov's Elegies (op. 3/1) and Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor.
