Irina ARKHIPOVA ( Moscow 2 January 1925 - Moscow 11 February 2010)

The great Russian mezzo –née Veloshkina -who became known to the West because of her appearance as Carmen opposite Mario Del Monaco in the legendary Moscow performance (available on Vai DVD) has sadly died of cardiac arrest in a Moscow Hospital. She’s survived by her husband, a grandson and a granddaughter. It was Del Monaco who brought her to the West  in 1960 when they repeated their Carmen performance in Naples under Peter Maag. This performance too was available on an LP release in Italy. We hereby honour her memory with some photos from Charles Mintzer’s collection. (see also editorial and home page for 2 other photos)

(with tenor Vladislav PIAVKO)