Sturzhina, Nonna

Sturzhina, Nonna Andreevna 

Born Oct. 17, 1937, in Dnepropetrovsk. Soviet Ukrainian mezzo-soprano. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976).

In 1964, Sturzhina graduated from the Kharkov Institute of Arts, where she had studied voice under P. V. Golubev. She became a soloist with the Kharkov Theater of Opera and Ballet in 1963 and with the Dnepropetrovsk Theater of Opera and Ballet in 1974. Sturzhina’s roles have included Liubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, Marina Mnishek in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Amneris and Azucena in Verdi’s Aïda and II Trovatore, respectively, and the title role in Bizet’s Carmen. She has also sung such roles as Aniuta in Klebanov’s The Communist, the Commissar in Kholminov’s An Optimistic Tragedy, and Aksin’ia in Dzerzhinskii’s The Quiet Don.

Sturzhina received the T. G. Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR in 1978.