Maria Litvinenko-Volgemut


Maria Ivanivna Litvinenko-Volgemut was a Ukrainian opera singer and music teacher. She was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1936 and awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946.

Biography

Maria Litvinenko was born in Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire, on 13 February 1892, in the family of a worker of the Arsenal Factory.
From the age of seven she sang in the church choir, where she learnt solfeggio.
In 1912, she graduated from the Kiev School of Music of the Russian Musical Society.
In 1912–1914, she performed at the M. Sadovsky Theater in Kiev.
In 1914–1916, she performed at the in Petrograd.
In 1919, she was part of the first opera theater in Kiev, the, with Les Kurbas and Anatol Petrytsky.
In 1920-1922 she was a soloist of a troupe organized by her, the "First Labor Cooperative of Ukrainian Artists" in Vinnytsia.
In 1923–1935, she was a soloist of the Ukrainian State Capital Opera.
In 1935-1953 she was a soloist of the National Opera of Ukraine. During the World War II they were evacuated to Ufa and then to Irkutsk. During this period, she performed for the Red Army.
In 1944-1964 she taught at the Kiev Conservatory.
Maria Ivanovna Litvinenko-Volgemut died on 3 April 1966 in Kiev and buried in the Baikove Cemetery.

Awards