Elena Kononenko

Russian soprano Elena Kononenko was born in Minsk. Also a trained pianist, she studied voice at the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow, and attended master classes directed by Francisco Araiza, Bruno Pola, Virginia Zeani,Grace Bumbry and Adriana Stamenova Porta . Between 2001 and 2003, she sang two principal roles at the Bolschoi Theatre in Moscow, in operas by Rimsky-Korsakov: Marfa in The Tsar's Bride and the Queen of Schemachan in The Golden Cockerel. In 2000, Elena Kononenko performed with the celebrated tenor José Carreras in Moscow and St. Petersburg, under the baton of David Gimenez. She gave further successful performances at the Johann Strauss Festival in St. Petersburg under the auspices of the Mariinsky Theatre, with Roberto Alagna and Lubov Kazarnovskaya in Moscow (2003), and w