Born in Archangel, Russia, Metropolitan Opera soprano Olga Makarina, made her first New York appearances at New York City Opera as Lucia di Lammermoor and has performed there as Gilda in Rigoletto, Konstanze in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Other roles in Ms. Makarina's repertoire include Ilia in Idomeneo (Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival), Violetta in La Traviata (Kirov Opera) and Eudoxie in La Juive (Opera Orchestra of New York). Ms. Makarina has also appeared as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Minnesota Orchestra and in Orff's Carmina Burana as well. Her repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera during recent seasons has included Gilda, Violetta and Lucia. She also performed concerts and solo recitals in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan and debuted at the National Theater, Prague as Donna Anna and sang the opening night gala of the Cesky Krumlov Festival with the Brno Philharmonic that was televised in Eurovision. In recent seasons Olga Makarina added to her repertory the roles of Desdemona in Verdi's Otello with the National Symphony of Mexico, at the Macau Festival in the production from Covent Garden and with the Beijing Philharmonic, Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall and Micaela in Carmen with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Her 2001-02 season included her house debut at the Metropolitan in Ravel's L'Enfant et Les Sortileges, the title role of Norma with Palm Beach Opera, Violetta in La Traviata in Mexico, Gilda in Rigoletto in La Palmas and an all Bellini Concert at the Teatro Liceu in Barcelona. She began her 2002-03 season singing Imogene in the new production of Il Pirata at the Met to glowing critical and public acclaim.