Elena Kruglikova - Soviet opera singer and teacher was one of the undisputed leaders of the opera troupe in the 30-40s. She participated in all relevant productions of the Bolshoi Theater, including the opera “Eugene Onegin”. The audience and colleagues as one of the best recognized her performance of the part of Tatiana. According to contemporaries, Ivan Kozlovsky considered her "the most lyrical Tatyana". The extraordinary femininity and lyricism distinguished the singer's artistic talent. She perfectly performed the role of Matilda in the opera “William Tell”, staged at the Bolshoi Theater when the Great Patriotic War began. Later the gallery of images created by the artist was replenished by Bela (opera “Bela” by Anatoly Alexandrov based on the story by Lermontov), followed by the Countess in “The marriage of Figaro”, Sieglinde in the opera “Die Walküre” by Richard Wagner, and the charming Masha in “Dubrovsky”.

During the Great Patriotic War, Elena repeatedly went to the front line with the group of artists from the Bolshoi Theater. She performed on the Mozhaisky direction of the Western Front in the winter of 1942.

The singer was awarded with the title of the People's Artist of the RSFSR in the year of her fortieth birthday (1947). The opera career of the singer ended in 1956. She began active pedagogical activity. Initially at the Gnessin Musical and Pedagogical Institute (1958-1959), later at the Musical College at the Moscow State Conservatory (1960-1976) and at the vocal department of the Conservatory, where she was the assistant professor in vocal class.

Elena Kruglikova had lyrico-dramatic soprano with a sonorous and warm timbre and an excellent chamber singer as well. She included arias from operas in her concert repertoire (often those parts that she did not perform on the theater stage), romances by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Pablo de Sarasate and old Russian romances. In addition, the romances of Pyotr Tchaikovsky -- “Not a word, my friend”, “Forget so soon”, “A terrible minute”, “Does the day reign” ... Russian folk songs sounded cordially in her performance.

Although time has moved away from us creative work of a prominent singer, the voice and performance of Elena Kruglikova, reproduced in the compilation timed to her115-birth anniversary, is a discovery for us, since her art is fanned by the breath of a living and sincere feeling.