People’s Artist of Russia, leading soloist of the Novosibirsk opera from 1978 to 2011 is celebrating her 70th anniversary today on 1st February. She has spent 30 years on the opera stage and has performed more than 30 leading opera parts, all vivid, eclectic, outstanding…
Galina Mikhailovna Bibicheva was born in a small village in Omsk oblast. After finishing school she had been working as radio technician at a factory in Omsk. According to her words, she found her way to the stage at the front security desk of the factory she was working at – head of the factory’s amateur talent group noticed her talent and invited to an audition for a music college.
College life was not all that simple – Galina had almost dropped her studies after the first year. But the second year brought first artistic achievements, and later a teacher of the Ural State Conservatory visited the college and invited Galina to continue her studies in Sverdlovsk. So she had to test out of the college and a year after Galina Bibicheva was admitted to the Ural State Conservatory, studio of Professor Z. V. Shchekolova.
At the end of her studies, Galina Bibicheva became quite popular during the traditional “vocal fair”. She chose the Novosibirsk theatre out of several other options: “I won’t deny I picked this option because of the housing problem. Director of the theatre Alexander Chugukov and the opera soloist Valery Egudin were at that fair. They promised to give me a flat. I came to Novosibirsk during the night time and I only saw the city in the morning and I was impressed by all those buildings, which compared to merchant houses of Sverdlosvk seemed enormous to me. I decided to sing Amneris part, the palace court scene (I also sang this part during the state exam in Perm theatre). I was warmly received at the Novosibirsk theatre, people seemed to be interested”.
The young soloist was immediately included in the Far East tour, where she debuted with Lyubasha part of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Tsar's Bride”. Galina Bibicheva was mastering her first part for the Novosibirsk theatre with the outstanding conductor Isidor Arkadyevich Zak.
This performance was followed by other significant mezzo-soprano parts of Russian and foreign classic repertoire along with operas of contemporary composers: Polina (Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades”), The Innkeeper, Marina Mniszech (Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov”), Kascheyevna (Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Kashchey the Deathless”), Konchakovna (Borodin’s “Prince Igor”), Amneris (Verdi’s “Aida”), Marfa (Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina”), Azucena (Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”) and other.
This performance was followed by other significant mezzo-soprano parts of Russian and foreign classic repertoire along with operas of contemporary composers: Polina (Tchaikovsky’s “The Queen of Spades”), The Innkeeper, Marina Mniszech (Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov”), Kascheyevna (Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Kashchey the Deathless”), Konchakovna (Borodin’s “Prince Igor”), Amneris (Verdi’s “Aida”), Marfa (Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina”), Azucena (Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”) and other.
Honored Artist of Russia, soloist of the Novosibirsk theatre opera company Yury Komov shares his memories of his cooperative work with Galina Bibicheva: “She had mind-blowing vocal skill and all her coworkers were well aware of that. My first big part with the Novosibirsk theatre was Vladimir Igorvich of “Prince Igor” opera staged by Vaagna Bagratuni while Galina Mikhailovna was performing Konchakovna. It was amazing how she managed to shroud the auditorium with her gorgeous voice and striking beauty of her low notes. She was capable of creating unforgettable images on stage due to her deep acting talent. A majestic woman with dignity and grand deep voice, nowadays unmatched, she looked stunning on stage. After that remarkable premiere of “Khovanshchina” in 1996 Galina Vishnevskaya used to admire Galina Bibicheva’s Marfa, calling her voice amazing, truly Russian”.
As Galina says, she had no preferences in repertoire: “Anything with good music to it”, but it was classic Russian opera repertoire where she exposed her incredible talent in full neasure.
Honored Artist of Russia Lidiya Bondarenko considers Galina Mikhailovna to be a real diva: “She used to take the stage and just sing, excelled even in small parts. She had this particular talent - an astonishing voice, incredibly beautiful, with an ability to spread out, I’d call this voice “glittering”. She is a careful and attentive partner to work with. For this anniversary I’d like to wish our dearest singer not to forget about her artistic history, about her voice pleasing thousands of listeners. Despite being a true star, Galina Mikhailovna was never “star-sick”.