Anna Netrebko

About

While studying at the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire, Russian-born singer Anna Netrebko was working as a janitor to make ends meet. In her early 20s she auditioned for an opera at the Mariinsky Theatre and grabbed the attention of the casting directors, who immediately recognized they had found someone special. She would quickly go on to star in various operas and become one of the leading figures of the Russian opera community. She made her American debut at the age of 25 in 1995, playing Lyudmila in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila at the San Francisco Opera. The performance helped establish her name as an international figure whose voice can be extremely commanding but also subtle and refined.