Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova (; 2 January 1925 11 February 2010, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian mezzo-soprano, and later contralto, opera singer. She sang leading roles first in Russia at the Sverdlovsk Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre, and then throughout Europe and in the United States. People's Artist of the USSR (1966) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1984). Biography Irina Arkhipova was born in Moscow. Before switching to voice, she studied architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute, graduating in 1948. She then studied at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1954 she debuted in Sverdlovsk, and was made a member of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1956. She became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1963 and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966. Arkhipova was at the height of her career in the 1960s and 1970s, during which time she was an international star, interpreting both Russian and Italian repertoire. Her technique was irreproachable, and she had great expressive power. She has been compared with Christa Ludwig. One of her most celebrated roles is as Marfa in Khovanshchina by Modest Mussorgsky, as recorded with Boris Khaykin in 1972. At the age of 72, Arkhipova finally made a belated Metropolitan Opera debut in March 1997 as Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin. She died in Moscow on 11 February 2010, at age 85. Repertoire Giuseppe Verdi Aida (Amneris) Don Carlos (Eboli) Il trovatore (Azucena) Un ballo in maschera (Ulrica) Falstaff (Meg Page) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin (Filippyevna) The Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc) The Queen of Spades (Countess) Mazeppa (Lyubov) The Enchantress (Princess Yevpraksiya Romanovna) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov The Tsar's Bride (Lyubasha) Sadko (Lyubava Buslayevna) The Snow Maiden (Spring Beauty) Sergei Prokofiev War and Peace (Hélène) The Story of a Real Man (Klaudiya Michailovna) Modest Mussorgsky Boris Godunov (Marina) Khovanshchina (Marfa) Alexander Dargomyzhsky The Stone Guest (Laura) Richard Wagner Das Rheingold (Fricka) Georges Bizet Carmen (Carmen) Jules Massenet Werther (Charlotte) Pietro Mascagni Cavalleria rusticana (Santuzza) Christoph Willibald Gluck Iphigénie en Aulide (Clytemnestra) Tikhon Khrennikov Mother (Nilovna) Vano Muradeli October (Countess) Honours and awards Hero of Socialist Labour (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of 29 December 1984) Order of St. Andrew (2 January 2005) – for outstanding contributions to the development of domestic and world music, many years of creative and social activities Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class (30 December 30,