Anna Netrebko was born in Krasnodar, in the south of Russia in 1971. She received her vocal training at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where she appeared as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Violetta in La Traviata. In 1993 she was first-prize winner of the Glinka Vocal Competition in Moscow, and joined the Kirov Company at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, to which she still belongs. The following year she made her debut there as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro; some of her other important roles with the company include Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Amina in La sonnambula, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Micaëla in Carmen and Louisa in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery. In 1995 she graduated from St. Petersburg Conservatory and made her sensational US debut as Lyudmila in Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila at the San Francisco Opera. Praised both for her beauty and glorious voice, Anna Netrebko is one of the world’s most stunning young sopranos who sweeps audiences off their feet wherever she appears.

1996
Prizewinner at the International Rimsky-Korsakov Vocal Competition, St. Petersburg; makes BBC debut (also telecast) with Gergiev and the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

1997
Wins the Baltika prize for young opera singers (St. Petersburg).

1998
Sings Susanna at the San Francisco Opera House and gives her first recital (including songs by Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninov).

1999
Washington Opera debut as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto; concert performances of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini under Gergiev in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and London.

2000
Sings in works by Bach (B minor Mass) and Handel (Judas Maccabaeus) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence; new successes in San Francisco as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Musetta in La Bohème; acclaimed as Natasha in Prokofiev’s War and Peace under Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre and at Covent Garden; Donizetti’s Lucia and Antonia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Mariinsky Theatre.

2000/2001
Appears as Ilia (Idomeneo), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Nannetta (Falstaff), Marfa (The Tsar’s Bride) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) at the San Francisco Opera and Washington Opera; further triumphs as Natasha in War and Peace at La Scala and in Madrid.

2001/2002
Sings Natasha in War and Peace in her Met debut and her first Donna Anna in her debut at the Salzburg Festival in a new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt; Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in her Philadelphia debut; Lucia for Kirov Opera at the Mariinsky Theatre; at the Verbier Festival she sings in a performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony under James Levine.

2002/2003
Appears as Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito under Sir Colin Davis at Covent Garden; Mozart’s Ilia in Washington and Zerlina at the Met; makes her Vienna State Opera debut in La Traviata; at the Mariinsky she sings Natasha and Violetta, and participates in a gala concert in May 2003 for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg; summer engagements include her Bavarian State Opera debut as Violetta (together with Rolando Villazón) plus a gala concert there with Ramón Vargas, appearances at the Verbier Festival and a return to the Salzburg Festival as Donna Anna. Signs an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

2003/2004
Opera appearances as Donna Anna at Covent Garden, the Mariinsky and in Vienna, Lucia in Los Angeles, Violetta at the Mariinsky and in Munich, Musetta at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan and in San Francisco, Natasha and Bellini’s Giulietta at the Salzburg Festival; recitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, San Francisco and Verbier Festival. Her debut recording on Deutsche Grammophon of opera arias by Bellini, Berlioz, Donizetti, Dvořák, Gounod, Massenet, Mozart and Puccini with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Noseda wins an Amadeus Music Award 2003 and an Echo Award 2004 (“Female Singer of the Year”); the DVD release Anna Netrebko: The Woman – The Voice is issued in May 2004.

2004/2005
The season begins with a BBC Proms concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall conducted by Noseda; appearances at the Met as Musetta. CD/SACD release of Sempre libera, featuring scenes and arias by Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado (Goldene Schallplatte; Echo Awards “Female Singer of the Year”, “Bestseller of the Year” 2005).

2005
Role debut as Gounod’s Juliet in Los Angeles (with Villazón as Romeo) before returning to Vienna as Donizetti’s Adina, to Covent Garden as Gilda, and to the Mariinsky as Marfa (in The Tsar’s Bride); a new production of La Traviata at the Salzburg Festival, Gilda at the Bavarian State Opera, Adina and Gounod’s Juliet at the Vienna State Opera; concerts in Moscow, Germany (with tenor Joseph Calleja), and a recital tour of Japan. Russian President Vladimir Putin awards her with a State Prize in the field of Literature and the Arts. Sensational worldwide acclaim for her CD releases of Verdi’s La Traviata (Echo Award, “Best-Selling Album”, two platinum discs and a Grammy nomination in 2006) and Violetta, arias and duets from La Traviata (together with Rolando Villazón).

2006
Opera engagements include Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (with Villazón) and Bellini’s Sonnambula at the Vienna State Opera; Rigoletto and La Bohème (with Villazón, Domingo conducting), Don Pasquale and I Puritani at the New York Met; Don Giovanni with the Met in Japan; Susanna in Figaro (with Harnoncourt) at the Salzburg Festival and Massenet’s Manon in Los Angeles (with Villazón, Domingo conducting). Concerts at the Barbican and in Vienna with Villazón singing opera duets (some of which are featured on the Duet Album. Releases include the Salzburg productions of La Traviata and Figaro (Complete Mozart Operas box) on DVD; on CD: her highly acclaimed Russian Album with Gergiev and the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, and The Mozart Album – a selection of Mozart arias sung by Deutsche Grammophon’s star singers. A special highlight of the year takes place on 7 July when Anna Netrebko is joined by Rolando Villazón and Plácido Domingo in a spectacularly successful open-air concert in Berlin’s Waldbühne which is attended by more than 20,000 spectators, telecast to millions of viewers all over the world, and released on DVD.

2007
Bellini’s I Puritani and Roméo et Juliette at the Met, Massenet’s Manon at the Vienna and Berlin State Operas, Don Giovanni at London’s Covent Garden, and La Traviata at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Concert performances of La Bohème (with Villazón) in Munich, which are recorded by DG and provide the soundtrack to a cinema/TV film. Concerts with Villazón in Paris, at the Met, and on a German summer tour. Debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall singing opera arias and duets with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Moscow and Vienna; sensationally acclaimed concert at the BBC Proms. Releases: her Duet Album with Villazón (audio); individual release of Le nozze di Figaro from the Salzburg Festival 2006 (Académie du disque lyrique and Victoire de la musique classique awards, 2007), and The Opera Gala – Live from Baden-Baden with Elīna Garanča, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marco Armiliato (both available on DVD and as audio release); live recording of Bellini’s I Puritani from the Met (on DVD). Her Russian Album (Echo Award 2007) reaches gold status in Germany and Austria. Musical America names her “Musician of the Year for 2008”, Time magazine includes her in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world; Classical Brit Award as “Singer of the Year”. She becomes Global Ambassadress for the Austrian-based charity SOS-Kinderdorf International.

2008
Opera performances include La Traviata at London’s Covent Garden, Massenet’s Manon at the Vienna State Opera, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Vienna and at the Opéra National de Paris (debut), and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mariinsky Theatre. Concerts include a spectacular open-air concert with Rolando Villazón and Plácido Domingo at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Audio releases: La Bohème with Villazón and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Ber¬trand de Billy, and Souvenirs – a selection of Anna Netrebko’s favourite arias and songs in which she is accompanied by the Prague Philharmonia under Emmanuel Villaume. DVD releases: a Mozart Gala from Salzburg with singers Thomas Hampson, Magdalena Kožená, René Pape, Patricia Petibon, Ekaterina Siurina, Michael Schade and the Wiener Philharmoniker under Daniel Harding; Masse¬net’s Manon with Villazón and the Staatskapelle Berlin led by Daniel Barenboim. President Vladimir Putin presents her with Russia’s highest state cultural honour as the “People’s National Artist” at a gala concert in the Mariinsky Theatre. Classical Brit Award as “Female Artist of the Year”.

2009
She performs in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Mariinsky Theatre, the Vienna State Opera, and the Met (here with Villazón); in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Covent Garden (with Garanča); in La Traviata at the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera and San Francisco Opera; in La Bohème at the Bavarian State Opera; alongside with Villazón in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanthe in Baden-Baden; and in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Villazón at the Paris Opera. Concerts include appearances with Hvorostovsky in Germany and London; she also appears at the Salzburg Festival, and in Scandinavia. Audio release of I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Elīna Garanča, the Wiener Symphoniker and Fabio Luisi.