Svetlana Kasyanwas born in Georgia and graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory in 2011. In 2010 she won Second Prize in the Feodor Chaliapin International Singing Competition. In 2011 she won First Prize at the 5th China International Vocal Competition and participated in the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program at the Washington National Opera. She then became a member of the Bolshoi Young Singers Academy for three years, where her roles included title role in Tosca; Kuma in The Enchantress; Fata Morgana in The Love for 3 Oranges and Kupava in The Snow Maiden.
After leaving the Bolshoi Theatre, Ms Kasyan has made many important debuts, including her debut at the Teatro La Fenice as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly in 2013 and at the Theater St Gallen as Tosca in 2016, a role she reprised for her house debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma at the start of this season. Her other roles have included Elisabetta in Don Carlos for the Teatro Regio di Torino; Amelia in Un ballo in maschera for the Dorset Opera; Toscafor the Vilnius City Opera; Odabella in Attila for the Teatro Comunale di Modena; and the title role in Manon Lescaut for the Teatro Regio di Torino.
She has worked with conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Riccardo Frizza, Omer Meir Wellber, and Aldo Sisillo.
The soprano's concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Verdi’s Requiem, and Britten’s War Requiem, with orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker, Slovenská Filharmónia and Berliner Philharmoniker.
Following her debut in Rome at the start of the 2017/18 season, she also appeared in Trittico at I Teatri di Reggio Emilia and made her role debut as Lisa in The Queen of Spades at the Krasnoyarsk State Opera under the baton of Dmitri Jurowski (special performance dedicated to Dmitri Hvorostovsky). She also made her house debut at the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara as Giorgetta in Tabarro and in the title role in Suor Angelica.
This season will see Svetlana sing the title role in Tosca at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and the Teatr Wielki, Warsaw.