Larisa Arkhipovna Rudenko

Born Jan. 15 (28), 1918, in Makeevka, in what is now Donetsk Oblast. Soviet Ukrainian mezzo-soprano. People’s Artist of the USSR (1960).

In 1940, Rudenko graduated from the Kiev Conservatory. From 1939 to 1970 she was a soloist with the Ukrainian Theater of Opera and Ballet in Kiev. A gifted actress, she has a sonorous voice and a fine stage presence. Rudenko has sung major roles in many operas by Ukrainian composers, including Solomiia in Dan’kevich’s Bogdan Khmel’nitskii, Ulia Gromova in Meitus’ The Young Guard (1947), Var’ka in Zhukovskii’s The First Spring (1960), and Iarina in Maiboroda’s Taras Shevchenko (1964). One of her best roles has been that of Liubasha in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride.

Rudenko also gives concerts. From 1951 to 1953 she taught at the Kiev Conservatory; she rejoined the staff in 1965, becoming a docent in 1969. From 1966 to 1970 she was head of the subdepartment of musical education at the Karpenko-Karyi Theatrical Institute in Kiev. Rudenko tours outside the USSR. She was a deputy to the sixth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR.

Rudenko has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.