Alexandra Durseneva

Biography

Born in Kharkov into an artistic family. She completed her studies at the Kharkov State Pedagogical Institute and the vocal department of the Kharkov Institute of the Arts (T. Veske’s class). Her professional career started at the Kharkov Opera Theatre where she sang the main repertoire.
Since 1994, she has been a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre.

Repertoire

Amelfa (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel)
Vanya (Glinka’s Ivan Susanin)
Lyubasha (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride)
Konchakovna (Borodin’s Prince Igor)
Marta (Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta)
Marfa (Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina)
Ratmir (Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila)
Ulrica (Un Ballo in maschera)
Nurse (Eugene Onegin)
Princess Clarice (Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges)
Basmanov (Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik)
Baba the Turk (Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress)
Mother Superior (Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel)
Sonyetka (Shostakovich’s The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
Xenia’s Nurse, Innkeeper (Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov)
Spring (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden)
Countess (The Queen of Spades)
Fenena (Nabucco)
Giovanna (Rigoletto)
Soprano (Pravednikov’s The Tale of the Priest and of his Workman Balda in the performance of The Fables of the Vixen, the Duckling and Balda)
Mezzo-soprano/ The Porter/ The King (Nureyev ballet by Demutsky)
Foma Nazaryich’s Wife (Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko)
Babarikha (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of Tsar Saltan)

Tours

She tours abroad with the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company and as guest soloist. In 1999, she made her Royal Opera debut in The Golden Cockerel at Sadler’s Wells. She has appeared at the Bregenz Music Festival (Austria) and at the Arnhem Music Festival (The Netherlands). She has sung in The Demon and The Tsar’s Bride at the Konzerthaus, Vienna. She has appeared in productions by the following, among other, opera houses: Dublin (Innkeeper — Boris Godunov), Leipzig (Podtochina — Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mistress Quickly — Falstaff), Amsterdam (Podtochina), Jena (Mavra by Stravinsky), Teatro Lirico Cagliari, (Fyodor Basmanov — The Oprichnik); she took part in a performance of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, in Madrid. Having sung the part of Marta in Iolanta with Danish Opera, she made her La Scala debut in the same role (2002). In 2004, at the Igor Stravinsky Festival in Arnhem (The Netherlands), she took part in a concert performance of the opera Mavra. In 2006, she took part in a performance of Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery at Glyndebourne Festival. In the same year, she sang An Old Gipsy Woman in a concert performance of Rakhmaninov’s Aleko in Salle Pleyel (Paris, conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev). In 2007, she sang Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) in West Norwegian Opera.
In 2008 sang the role of Duenna in Betrothal in a Monastery at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia; the role of Xenia’s nurse in Boris Godunov at La Fenice in Venice. She took part in concert performances of Iolanta in Madrid (conductor Yuri Temirkanov) and London (conductor Vladimir Jurowski).
In 2010 she made role debut as Amneris (Aida) at the Kharkov Opera and Ballet Theatre.
In 2012 she took part in concert performance of Iolanta in Surgut.
In 2016 she appeared at the Concertgebau, Amsterdam in a concert performance of Prokofiev’s Semyon Kotko (Semyon’s Mother).
In 2018 — at the Opéra National de Paris in Boris Godunov new production (Xenia’s Nurse; conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, directed by Ivo van Hove).
In 2019 she took part in world premiere of the Vustin’s The Devil in Love at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Music Theatre (Dona Mencia; conductor Vladimir Jurowsky, director Alexander Titel).

As a concert and recital artist makes numerous appearances in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In recent seasons she performed works by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rachmaninov, Verdi, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Dvořák, Wagner, Weil.

She has worked with the following, among other, outstanding conductors: Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Temirkanov, Mark Ermler, Andrei Chistyakov, Mikhail, Vladimir and Dmitri Jurowski, Alexander Vedernikov, Zoltán Peskó, Mikhail Pletnev, Eliahu Inbal, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Evelino Pido; and with the following, among other, directors: Harry Kupfer, Boris Pokrovsky, Peter Ustinov, Tim Hopkins, Lamberto Pugelli, Graham Vick, Francesca Zambello, David Pountney, Temur Chkheidze, Alexander Sokurov, Valery Fokin, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Robert Carsen.

Discography

Rimsky-Kosrakov’s The Ledend of the Invisible City of Kitezh — Alkonost, conductor — V. Fedoseyev, Koch Schwann, 1997.
Rubinstein’s The Demon — Nurse, conductor — V. Fedoseyev, Koch Schwann, 1998.
Tchaikovsky’s The Oprichnik — Basmanov, conductor G. Rozhdestvensky, Dynamic, 2004.
Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila — Ratmir, conductor A. Vedernikov, PentaTone сlassic, 2004.
Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery – Duenna, conductor V. Jurowski, Glyndebourne, 2006.
Rakhmaninov’s Aleko — An Old Gipsy Woman, conductor V. Fedoseyev, Relief, 2007.
Alexandra Durseneva. Russian Songs – Melodia, 2014.
Romances of 20th Century (piano part – Vladimir Slobodyan) — Melodia, 2017