Figner, Medeia

(née Mei). Born Apr. 4, 1859, in Florence; died July 8, 1952, in Paris. Russian mezzo-soprano; Italian by nationality.

Figner sang in Italy and other European countries and in South America between 1877 and 1887. From 1887 to 1912 she was a soloist at the Mariinskii Theater in St. Petersburg, where she appeared regularly in productions with N. N. Figner, whom she married in 1889. She was the first to sing the role of Liza in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. Among other roles in which she distinguished herself were the title role in Bizet’s Carmen, Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, and Valentine in Meyerbeer’s The Huguenots. Figner continued to sing in opera and on the concert stage until 1923, after which she taught. She lived in Paris from 1930 until her death.