Heine-Vagnere, Žermena

Born June 23, 1923, in Riga. Soviet Latvian lyric-dramatic soprano. People’s Artist of the USSR (1969).

Upon graduating from the Latvian Conservatory in 1950, Heine-Vāgnere became a soloist with the Latvian Theater of Opera and Ballet. She has brilliant stage gifts, is highly musical, and has a large and varied operatic repertoire. She has sung many parts in operas by Soviet composers (including the title role in Barnutā by Kalninš and Natasha in War and Peace by Prokofiev) and in Russian and Western European operas (including parts in operas by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and R. Strauss). Heine-Vāgnere is also widely known as a concert singer and has performed the soprano parts in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem, and Berlioz’ The Damnation of Faust, among other works. A deputy to the fifth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR (1957), she has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.