Born in Vladikavkaz (Russia), Elena Tsallagova studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. She performed at the Mariinsky Theatre and won first prize in the Rachmaninov vocal competition in Saint Petersburg. She studied repertoire and interpretation in France with Ileana Cotrubas. In 2006, she entered the Paris Opera’s Atelier Lyrique for young artists. In 2007, she sang the roles of Zelmira (Haydn’s Armida) at the Salzburg Festival and Livietta (Cimarosa’s Don Calandrino) under the direction of Riccardo Muti at the Ravenna Festival.

In 2008, she performed the lead role in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the Paris Opera. The DVD of the production was honoured at the 2009 Victoires de la Musique. For two years she was under contract with Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper, where she sang Despina (Così fan tutte), Sophie (Werther), Nannetta (Falstaff), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Musetta (La Bohème), Creusa (Medea in Corinto), Isotta (La Femme silencieuse), and Donna Clara (Der Zwerg). In 2009, she made her British debut playing Nannetta with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera. In 2010, she sang Despina in Tokyo under the direction of Paolo Carignani. After making her debut at the 2011 Pesaro Festival, she sang Corinna and the Comtesse de Folleville (Le Voyage à Reims) in Antwep and Ghent under the musical direction of Alberto Zedda. She played Fortuna and Dama (L'incoronazione di Poppea) and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Poppea (Handel’s Agrippina) in Ghent and Oviedo, Nannetta at the 2013 Glyndebourne Festival, and she performed Rachmaninov’s The Bells at the Lucerne Festival. In 2012, she performed the role of Mélisande for the first time at the Paris Opera where she also played Nannetta, the Woodbird in Siegfried and Musetta in La Bohème. Since the start of the 2013 / 2014 season, she has been a permanent artist at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin where she has sung the roles of Pamina (The Magic Flute), Nannetta, Gilda (Rigoletto), Micaela (Carmen), Sophie (Rosenkavalier) and Adina (L’Élixir d’amour). She recently sang the role of Mélisande in a new production by the Bayerische Staatsoper of Munich.

Projects:
Marfa (The Tsar’s Bride) at the Berlin Staatsoper, the lead role in The Cunning Little Vixen at the Glyndebourne Festival.

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