Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova studied singing at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. She went on to join the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre, where her roles have included Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri), Carmen, Olga (Eugene Onegin), Siébel (Faust), Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Charlotte (Werther), Polina (The Queen of Spades), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) and Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus). She made her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in 2005 as Maddalena (Rigoletto) and has returned there to sing Federica (Luisa Miller), Carmen, Olga and Suzuki. For Vienna State Opera her roles include Carmen, Maddalena, Eboli (Don Carlos), Cherubino, Rosina, Angelina (La Cenerentola), Isabella, Marfa (Khovanshchina), Olga Polina, Blanche (The Gambler), Prince Orlofsky, Suzuki and Charlotte, for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Olga and Carmen, for The Metropolitan Opera Olga, Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Polina and for La Scala Milan Carmen, Prince Orlofsky and Polina.
Maximova’s engagements elsewhere include Carmen for Berlin State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Florence, Valencia, Palermo, New National Theatre Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Prague and Muscat, Eboli for Finnish National Opera, Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg and Semperoper Dresden, Maddalena for Opera de Paris and Staatsoper Berlin, Dalila (Samson et Dalila), Marguérite (La Damnation de Faust) and Leonora (La Favorita) for St Gallen Festival, Preziosilla (La forza del destino) for Florence, Semperoper Dresden, Opernhaus Zurich and Deutsche Oper Berlin, Charlotte for New National Theatre Tokyo and Sydney, Olga and Polina in Lyon, Olga in Amsterdam, Polina for Rome Opera, La belle Dulcinée (Don Quichotte) in Sydney, Hélène Bezukhova (War and Peace) in Geneva, Marchesa Melibea (Il viaggio a Reims) and Polina for the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Federica in Hamburg, Fenena (Nabucco) for Teatro Real Madrid.
