Irina Mataeva

• Soprano

Reviews

Irina Mataeva press reviews

Eugene Onegin, Mariinsky on tour in the US, February 2010 

Ms. Mataeva was wonderfully sad and in character throughout the evening. Her “Letter” scene was delivered beautifully and with clear emotion...she did a great job and maintained a solid vocal line throughout the performance, delivering a beautiful duet with Onegin at the end of the performance.
Joseph Giannino for OperaOnline.us

As Tatyana, Irina Mataeva's singing was  lovely in tone and expressive shading
Cameron Spencer for Baltimore Sun

War and Peace' Mariinsky on tour in the US, March, 2010
Gergiev ensured that those romantic scenes, with their lushly lyrical music, were beautifully etched; the passage for the dying Andrei and the regretful Natasha proved particularly affecting. Those two roles were admirably performed by Alexey Markov and Irina Mataeva. Both artists offered insightful phrasing and thoroughly fleshed-out portrayals.
Baltimore Sun

Aleko

Irina Mataeva sang with appropriate venom  Telegraph

Irina Mataeva had glowered impressively as Zemfira, the fickle Gypsy heroine of Rachmaninov's early opera Aleko; now she was warbling with touching devotion before Victor Lutsiuk's steadfast hero in the post-revolution turmoil of 1918.
Yet the expressive burden remained with the ladies, with the warm-voiced Mataeva
the times

Mataeva, in a bright orange gown, looked the part and sang beautifully
the opera critc

Onegin in Washington
The highlight was Irina Mataeva's lyrical Tatiana. Though not a superstar, Mataeva is not unfamiliar on international stages. (She has sung Micaëla and Zerlina at the Washington National Opera; her Natasha was a ray of light in the Met's revival of "War and Peace.") Last night confirmed the impression that she is a lovely singer, creating a three-dimensional, credible character with vocal nuance.She sang with both feeling and intelligence, from tender quiet passages to a surprisingly full fortissimo top.
Washington post


Mataeva, on the other hand, was the perfect foil to her sister Olga. She radiated youth, shyness, awkwardness, passion, and the inexperience of a county girl living on the farm who has a teenage infatuation with a man she has just met. Her rendition of the famous Letter Scene was sung as well as I ever heard it done. Her voice has an exceptionally beautiful timbre that is always enticing to the ear. She has a beautiful piano voice and a full and penetrating forte voice, both of which she employed to great effect in the Letter Scene. Her final duet with Mr. Leiferkus was thrilling in its display of vocal passion and dramatic intensity. ConcertoNet


The Maid of Pskov
The performance of lyrical soprano Irina Matayeva as Ivan’s daughter, Olga Tokmakova, was one of the staging’s greatest highlights, creating a palpitating and passionate princess. St Petersburg Times

Otello
Irina Mataeva was a beautiful, dark-featured Desdemona with attractive poise on stage. By the second act, as Otello began to unravel, she drew all attention to herself by her sympathetic presence. Her Willow Song and Ave Maria scene were paragons of fragility and purity.
DCist