A singer (mezzo‑soprano).
After graduating from the Tashkent State Conservatoire in 1983, Irina Igorevna Dolzhenko was invited to Moscow to join the company of the N. I. Sats Moscow State Academic Children’s Musical Theatre.
In 1995 she made her Bolshoi Theatre debut as Cherubino.
Since 1996 she has been a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre’s opera company.
At the Bolshoi Theatre Irina Dolzhenko has sung the following roles:
- Cherubino («Le nozze di Figaro» W. A. Mozart);
- the Housekeeper Amelfa («The Golden Cockerel» N. Rimsky‑Korsakov);
- the Innkeeper («Boris Godunov» M. Mussorgsky);
- Amneris («Aida» G. Verdi);
- Laura («Iolanta» P. Tchaikovsky);
- Adalgisa («Norma» V. Bellini);
- Azucena («Il trovatore» G. Verdi);
- Boyarynya Morozova («The Oprichnik» P. Tchaikovsky);
- Blanche («The Gambler» S. Prokofiev);
- Fenena («Nabucco» G. Verdi);
- Marguerite («La damnation de Faust» H. Berlioz);
- Lel and Spring («The Snow Maiden» N. Rimsky‑Korsakov);
- Marina Mnishek («Boris Godunov» M. Mussorgsky);
- Olga («Eugene Onegin» P. Tchaikovsky);
- Lyubov («Mazepa» P. Tchaikovsky);
- Lyubasha («The Tsar’s Bride» N. Rimsky‑Korsakov);
- Martha («Khovanshchina» M. Mussorgsky);
- Suzuki («Madama Butterfly» G. Puccini);
- Carmen («Carmen» G. Bizet);
- Margret («Wozzeck» A. Berg);
- Annina («Der Rosenkavalier» R. Strauss);
- Nenila («The Enchantress» P. Tchaikovsky), and others.
Her repertoire also includes mezzo‑soprano parts in major vocal‑symphonic works:
- Mozart’s «Requiem»;
- Verdi’s «Requiem»;
- Dvořák’s, Pergolesi’s, and Vivaldi’s «Stabat Mater»;
- Vivaldi’s «Gloria»;
- the cantata «After Reading a Letter»;
- Symphony No. 1 by S. Taneyev;
- Prokofiev’s cantata «Alexander Nevsky»;
- Tchaikovsky’s cantata «Moscow»;
- Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9;
- Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.
Irina Dolzhenko has appeared many times at the Vienna Kammeroper, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the New Israeli Opera in Tel‑Aviv, the Opera House in Cagliari (Italy), Opéra National de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Opéra Bastille in Paris.
She has been a frequent guest at international music festivals, including those in Schönbrunn (Austria), Savonlinna (Finland), the Mozart Festival in France, the Jerusalem Festival, and others.
She has performed under such distinguished conductors as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, and Vladimir Jurowski.
A documentary film about her work, «Stars in Close‑Up: Irina Dolzhenko», was released in 2002 by Art‑Mediatsentr (director N. Tikhonov).
In 1981 she received a special prize at the M. I. Glinka All‑Union Vocalists’ Competition.
For her outstanding artistic achievements she has been awarded the honorary titles «Honoured Artist of Russia» (2001) and «People’s Artist of Russia» (2010).
Since 2012 Irina Dolzhenko has taught at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
