In 2004 she graduated from the Mussorgsky Urals State Conservatoire (Valery Gurevich’s class). She attended master classes of Vazha Chachava (Yekaterinburg) and participated in the Corso d’Oro programme for young opera singers in Montepulciano, Italy; Cours Raphael Sikorski in Paris, France. Since 2005, she has been a soloist of the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre. For performing the part of La Comtesse Adèle in Le comte Ory she has been nominated to the Golden Mask National Theatrical Award (2012).
In 2007 the singer performed in a gala concert at the J.K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the Czech Republic. In the same year she participated in the Barsova and Maksakova International Singing Festival in Astrakhan, having sung at the opening of the festival and as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata.
Irina toured with the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre in Moscow as part of the Golden Mask Festival. In 2012 she performed as Princess Ninette in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges at the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre and as Countess Adèle in Rossini’s Le comte Ory at the Novaya Opera.
In 2013 she performed in the Bolshoi Young Voices gala concert on the Historical Stage. In 2014 she sang as Marfa in the production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride.
Since 2015, Irina Bozhenko has been a soloist of the Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow. For performing Juliette (Romeo et Juliette) she has been nominated for the Golden Mask National Theatrical Award (2015).
She has worked with the State Academic Symphony Capella led by Vladimir Polyansky and the Vivaldi-Orchestra led by Svetlana Bezrodnaya, Orchestra of Russian Folk Instruments of the Russian State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company. She has toured in England, Italy, the Czech Republic, Thailand and Taiwan.
The singer’s repertoire comprises Dunyasha in Bocharov’s Morozko, Tsarevna in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kashchey the Immortal, Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Snow Maiden in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata, Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, Ninette in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, Lyudmila in Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila, and Ksenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.
Awards and Honours:
- Prize-winner of the Bella Voce All-Russia Competition (3rd Prize, Moscow, 2002)
- Prize-winner of the Romanciada International Competition of Young Russian Romance Performers (2nd Prize, Moscow, 2002)
- Prize-winner of the Glinka International Singing competition (Astrakhan, 2003)
- Prize-winner of the Dvorak International Singing Competition (1st Prize, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, 2006)
- Prize-winner of the Byulbyul International Singing Competition (2nd Prize, Baku, Azerbaijan, 2012)
- Prize-winner of the Bravo! Region Competition of Theatrical Works in the Best Opera Interpretation nomination for her Zerlina in Don Giovani in the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre in 2010.
Roles performed at the Novaya Opera:
Juliette in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette
Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride
Snow Maiden in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden
Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata
Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto
Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Musetta in Puccini's La bohème
Natalya in Boyarsky's Pushkin
Zofe in Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg
Antonida in Glinka's A Life for the Tsar (in concert)
Mařenka in Smetana's The Bartered Bride (in concert)
Soprano parts:
Saariaho's La Passion de Simone
Opera&Jazz (New Year's Eve Show)
Four Operetta Kings (concert)
