Opera Singer. Perhaps her country's most distinguished mezzo soprano, she shall be remembered for her long career at Moscow's Bolshoi Opera as well as at numerous major international venues. Raised in what was then Leningrad under the difficult conditions of a wartime siege, she began singing in public at around age five and in 1948 joined the Children's Chorus at Leningrad's Palace of Pioneers, remaining with the ensemble until 1954. In 1954 she began formal training at the Tchaikovsky Musical College of Tagenrog and made good progress despite having to move frequently due to her father's business obligations, then in 1957 was admitted to the Leningrad Conservatory. Elena gained experience in numerous student productions, in 1962 earned Gold Medals at Helsinki's World Festival of Youth and Students and at Moscow's Glinka Competition, then on December 17, 1963 bowed at the Bolshoi as Marina in Modest Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov". Quickly becoming a major star, she made her October 8, 1964 La Scala Milano debut as the Governess in Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades"; over the years she was to sing about 40 roles, her better known portrayals including two of Verdi's witches, Ulrica in "Un Ballo in Maschera" and Azucena from "Il Trovatore", Charlotte of Jules Massenet's "Werther", the frustrated and jealous Princess Amneris from Verdi's "Aida", Adalgisa in Vincenzo Bellini's "Norma", Princess Eboli from Verdi's "Don Carlos", and the title anti-heroines of Bizet's "Carmen" and Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila". Elena sang in most of the world's premier opera houses, bowing in 1975 at the Vienna State Opera as Carmen and with the San Francisco Opera as Azucena, the role which she used for her 1978 first appearance at Covent Garden. Her long-awaited Metropolitan Opera debut came on October 12, 1976 as Amneris and the last of her 54 appearances there was on March 6, 2002 as Madame Arkrosimova of Serge Prokofiev's "War and Peace"; in 1977 she was selected by director Franco Zeffirelli to sing Carmen opposite Placido Domingo as Don Jose in a film presentation of the all time classic. Her honors were vast and included the Lenin Prize in 1973 and 1974, designation as People's Artist of the USSR in 1976, in 1990 the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of Socialist Labour, and on the 2009 occasion of her 70th birthday the Russian Orthodox Church's Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow. Though slowed by health problems in her later years, Elena never formally retired, singing recitals and occasional performances as the Old Countess in "The Queen of Spades" at St Petersburg's Mikhaylovsky Theatre, then becoming director of the facility in 2007. She died at a clinic in Germany of pneumonia and a collection of medical difficulties; at her demise a vocal competition and a planet carried her name while she could be heard in a number of movies, studio recordings, live 'pirates', and archived broadcasts.