The renowned Russian singer Galina Vishnevskaya passed away on December 11, 2012.

The legacy of Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya is enormous, extending far beyond her opera career to embrace education, enlightenment and preservation of cultural values.

First and foremost, it is her performing art. The singer's unique voice (lyrical-dramatic soprano) and her emotional singing manner brought new expressiveness to opera. Galina Vishnevskaya performed both the classical Russian repertoire and works by contemporary composers (in particular, Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, who wrote especially for her). Numerous audio and video recordings of the singer's performances on the world's greatest stages (the Bolshoi Theatre, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, etc.) preserve her performing style and skill for future generations.

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya was one of the most outstanding artists of the 20^th century. Thanks to her natural talent, hard work and stoic character, she was able to overcome all the difficulties of her time: war, starvation, the siege of Leningrad and exile. She became a role model not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. Her talent and indomitable will to win, combined with her keen mind, helped her conquer the world's leading opera stages. Vishnevskaya sang at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Grand Opera, La Scala, and the Munich Opera – audiences in every country applauded the Russian opera star. She performed more than thirty opera roles at the Bolshoi Theatre, became a People's Artist of the USSR and a full Knight of the Order ‘For Merit to the Motherland’. In the words of Boris Pokrovsky, she was ‘the trump card in the Bolshoi Theatre's deck’.

After returning to Russia, Galina Vishnevskaya was actively involved in teaching, passing on her unique experience and knowledge to young talented singers. She gave master classes all over the world and headed the jury of international competitions.

The Centre for Opera Singing that Galina Pavlovna founded and opened in Moscow on September 1, 2002 is a key element of her legacy, continuing the traditions of the Russian opera school and training new generations of artists.
Together with Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya was actively involved in charity work and issues related to the preservation of Russian cultural heritage. The art collection assembled by the couple was donated to the Russian state.

Flamboyant life of Galina Vishnevskaya', marked by hardships and deprivation, ups and downs, the forced exile, became for us an example of resilience and complete surrender of self to art.

Galina Pavlovna left behind an extensive audio legacy:
– complete recordings of operas (“Eugene Onegin”, “The Queen of Spades”, “War and Peace”, etc.);
– select arias and scenes;
– vocal cycles and romances.

During her emigration, the singer recorded five discs with romances by M.I. Glinka, A.S. Dargomyzhsky, M.P. Mussorgsky, A.P. Borodin, and P.I. Tchaikovsky.

Monologue. Galina Vishnevskaya. The fifth channel. Russia
A documentary film about the complex, dramatic and at the same time distinguished career of Galina Vishnevskaya. The film features unique interviews and archive footage.