Raisa Mikhailovna Sergienko

Born July 13, 1925, in the village (now city) of Novoukrainka, Kirovograd Oblast. Soviet Ukrainian lyric-dramatic soprano. People’s Artist of the USSR (1973). Member of the CPSU since 1956.

In 1951, Sergienko graduated from the Odessa Conservatory, where she had studied voice under S. I. Shchavinskaia. In the same year she became a soloist with the Odessa Theater of Opera and Ballet. Sergienko’s roles have included Iaroslavna in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Tat’iana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Cho-Cho-San in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, and Leonora and Aïda in Verdi’s II Trovatore and Aïda, respectively. She has also sung the roles of Odarka in Gulak-Artemovskii’s The Zaporo-zhian Cossack Across the Danube, Mar’iana in Maiboroda’s Arsenal, Natal’ia in Khrennikov’s Into the Storm, and the title role in Arkas’ Catherine.

Sergienko has received the Order of the Badge of Honor and various medals.