Russian Soviet opera singer (lyric coloratura soprano) Valeria Vladimirovna Barsova was born June 13, 1892.

She made her debut at the opera stage in 1917, later appearing on the stages of the workers organizations’ Art and Education Union and Moscow Hermitage Garden (where her partner was F. Chaliapin).

From 1920 to 1948, V. Barsova was a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. At the same time, from 1920 to 1924 she sang in the Opera Studio of the Bolshoi Theatre under K. Stanislavsky and in the Music Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre under V. Nemirovich-Danchenko. Since 1929, Valeria Barsova toured abroad (Germany, Great Britain, Turkey, Poland, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria).

One of the greatest national singers of the Soviet period, she had an easy, mobile, beautiful voice and a filigree vocal technique. She also became famous as a chamber singer and loved to sing folk songs. The singer’s concert performances stood out not only for the freshness of her repertoire but also the elaborateness of her programmes. Particularly interesting in this respect were the concerts of the 30s-40s, which reflected the wealth of the peoples of the USSR music, in particular arias from national operas. V. Barsova was able to find her own "attire" and method of presentation for each opera role, revealing the heroine national character.

Barsova was one of the first to develop thematically structured programmes. This was, for example, one of her first independent concerts in the House of the Unions, dedicated to "Dance in Vocal Music".

It is enough to turn over the pages of the singer's repertoire to be convinced of the breadth of her artistic horizons. She systematically and persistently undertook peculiar "digs" among composers from different epochs and countries - from Bach, Handel, Rameau and Mozart to Debussy, Ravel, Reger and Stravinsky. Barsova's concert programmes presented Russian vocal lyrics exhaustively - works by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Balakirev, Borodin, Mussorgsky, César Cui, Rubinstein, Taneyev, Arensky, Glazunov, Rachmaninoff and Medtner. She even included a single romance by Scriabin in her repertoire. The singer often performed the romances of her contemporaries - A. Grechaninov, N. Golovanov, Y. Sakhnovsky, A. Koreschenko, V. Kochetov, G. Konyus and V. Suk. Finally, she boldly turned to the works of Soviet composers An. Alexandrov, N. Myaskovsky, C. Prokofiev, C. Vasilenko, Reinhold Glière, Kabalevsky, Koval, Z. Levina, N. Chemberji and others.

From 1950-1953 Valeria Barsova taught at the Moscow Conservatoire.

Barsova was enjoying great respect from the world-famous musicians and artists who were her partners on stage, while the audiences, filling the theatres and concert halls, expressed love for her with heartfelt applause and countless bouquets of flowers. Foreign journalists and music critics called the singer a "Russian nightingale", dedicating her rapturous articles and publications.

To the 130th anniversary of Soviet prima donna new musical compilation with the voice of Valeria Barsova is posted in our Sound Library.

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