Voice: | Soprano |
Nationality: | Russian |
Year of Birth: | Not entered yet. |
Year of Death: | 1958 |
Lydia Lipkowska (1882–1958) was a Russian operatic soprano of Ukrainian origin.
Lydia was born in Babyn, where is a village museum dedicated to her, in the family of a rural teacher. Lydia had three sisters, four brothers. Her aunt was a famous Ukrainian actress Maria Zankovetska. She received education in the Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium in Kamyanets-Podilskyi. Together with other students, she sang in the church choir, she had her own solo parties, drawing attention with a magic voice that ran under the dome of the cathedral. Residents of Kamyanets called the girl "Singing Bird". After Kamyanets-Podiskyi Lipkowska was trained at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. She is said to have studied with Natalia Iretskaya, a pupil of the well-known Pauline Viardot. She was committed to the Mariinsky Theatre from 1906—1908 and again from 1911–1913. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1909 until 1911. Lipkowska's debut with the Metropolitan was as Violetta in La Traviata on November 18, 1909, with Caruso as Alfredo. She sang as a guest artist at the Boston Opera Company in 1909 and the Chicago Grand Opera Company in 1910. While in Boston, Lipkowska was honored by The Lenox Hotel, which put on its menu the "cup Lydia" and the "Souffle a la Lipkowska". She petioned a judge for an injunction against the hotel, claiming that the menu items were "injuring her reputation and holding her up to ridicule." In 1911 she made her debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Mimì in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème.