Irina Lungu

Irina Lungu (born 5 June 1980) is a Russian operatic soprano.

Born in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and raised in Russia, Lungu obtained diplomas in choral conducting, piano and singing at the State Conservatory of Voronež in Russia, where her voice teacher was Mikhail Podkopaev. She won several international competitions, including Operalia in 2004, the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, and Voci Verdiane in Busseto, before being accepted in 2003 by the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, Milan, where she was mentored by, among others, soprano Leyla Gencer.

In that same year (2003) Maestro Riccardo Muti selected Lungu as Anaï in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon, the inaugural opera of the 2003/04 season of the Teatro alla Scala. That was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between the soprano and the leading Italian opera company, where she has performed Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Maria Stuarda, Marguerite in Faust, Oksana in Cherevichki, Nannetta in Falstaff and the title role of Sancta Susanna. It was at La Scala that in 2007 she debuted the role of Violetta in La traviata under the musical direction of Lorin Maazel in Liliana Cavani's production, returning to sing the role in the same staging in 2008, and in 2013 in Dmitri Tcherniakov's new production conducted by Daniele Gatti. Violetta is her most performed role (over 130 times).