Vassilissa Michailowna Berschanskaja

Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (Russian: Василиса Михайловна Бержанская; born 13 December 1993) is a Russian operatic mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses roles of the Italian bel canto of Rossini and Bellini, Mozart, Baroque music such as Vivaldi and Purcell, and roles from Russian opera, by composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Though Berzhanskaya is a mezzo-soprano, in the past she has sung roles ranging from dramatic coloratura soprano (the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte) to contralto (Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri). As such, she has been described as possessing "a huge vocal range in which she display impeccable coloratura."

Early life and education Berzhanskaya studied at the Stavropol Territorial Musical College and also the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music. It was during her time at the Bolshoi Theatre that she made a transition to mezzo-soprano roles. In 2016, she appeared at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro as La Marchesa Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims in a production by , after studying with Alberto Zedda in the Accademia Rossiniana. In 2017, she took part in the Young Singers Project of the Salzburger Festspiele where she sang Frau Pfeil in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor. In 2019, Berzhanskaya performed Vagaus in Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans at the De Nationale Opera, and Aristea in Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade at the Het Concertgebouw, both with Andrea Marcon conducting. She made her house debut with the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma as Angelina in La Cenerentola, returned to the Salzburg Festival as Diane in Orphée aux enfers in a new production by Barrie Kosky, with Enrique Mazzola conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, and also returned to Theater Basel to sing Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Kirill Serebrennikov's production, with David Parry conducting the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

Awards 2020/21 Best Young Singer, International Opera Awards