Born in St Petersburg, the mezzo-soprano Maria Gortsevskaya graduated from the St Petersburg Conservatory. In 1995 she received first prize at the Verviers International Competition in Belgium. She made her professional stage début as Fyodor in Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky Theatre at the age of nineteen, also appearing as Olga, Cherubino, Rosina, Cenerentola, Isabella (L’italiana in Algeri), Siebel (Faust), and Mercedes (Carmen), among others and took part in Andrei Konchalovsky’s staged production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace.

Maria Gortsevskaya has appeared with the Mariinsky Theatre at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera New York, and in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Among her most acclaimed portrayals are Dorabella and Rosina. Other appearances include Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), Fyodor in Boris Godunov (La Monnaie, Brussels), Baba The Turk in The Rake’s Progress (Festival Mozart, La Coruňa and Bologna, Calixto Bieto, director), Clarina in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio and Giustizia in Mozart’s Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (both at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), Mother Superior in Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel (La Monnaie, Brussels), La Marchesa Clarice in Rossini’s La pietra del paragone (Teatro Real, Madrid, cover).

She has also appeared as Emilia in Rossini’s Otello at Pesaro. Her extended concert repertoire includes works by Shostakovich, Pergolesi, Rossini, Haydn, Mozart, Handel and Vivaldi. She has given solo recitals and concerts at the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and in St Petersburg, has participated in many audio and video recordings, including War and Peace and The Fiery Angel for Philips Classics, and Così fan tutte for Euro Radio with the Latvian National Opera.