Happy birthday, Galina Vishnevskaya!
The present Doodle, illustrated guest artist Darya Shnykina, commends the 95th birthday celebration of one of the best Russian opera singers of the 20th century—Galina Vishnevskaya.
Galina Pavlovna Ivanova was born on this day in 1926 in Leningrad, Russia (cutting edge St. Petersburg) and became enthralled with drama at 10 years of age in the wake of hearing Tchaikovsky’s epic “Eugene Onegin.”
While walking the streets of Leningrad in the mid 1950s, Vishnevskaya stumbled upon a invitation to audition for the Bolshoi Theater—Russia’s most prestigious opera hall. She blew the judges away with her audition, acquiring a spot as the year’s just auditioner accepted into the Bolshoi company.
In 1953, her childhood dreams were acknowledged at the Bolshoi as she depicted the lead character Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin” with a fresh interpretation of an classic character that turned into her signature role.
This denoted the beginning of a virtuosic opera career that took Vishnevskaya to settings all throughout the planet—regularly with her darling dachshund Pooks close by—from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to Helsinki’s Finnish National Opera. It was at the last setting that she gave her final performance of Tatyana prior to retiring in 1982.
As a devoted humanitarian, Vishnevskaya established the non-benefit kids’ government assistance association Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation in 1991 close by her husband, the elite cellist Maestro Rostropovich.
She additionally established the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Center in 2002 to give a home to aspiring opera singers. The two associations carry on her tradition of aiding and moving others right up ’til today.