What is Galina Vishnevskaya?
[[Image:Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya NYWTS cropped.jpg|thumb|Galina Vishnevskaya with Mstislav Rostropovich]] '''Galina Vishnevskaya''' (born [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], October 25, 1926 - December 11, 2012) was a [[Russia]]n [[opera]] singer and [[recital]]ist. ==Birth== Vishnevskaya was born in Leningrad, the town which is now called St Petersburg. In 1952, she won an important [[competition]] singing a song by [[Rachmaninoff]] and an aria by [[Verdi]]. She soon became a member of the famous [[Bolshoi Theatre]] in [[Moscow]]. ==Career== In 1960 she sang the part of Aïda in ''[[Aïda]]'' at the National Theatre in [[Sarajevo]]. In 1961, she made her first appearance at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] as Aïda and the next year she sang in the [[Royal Opera House]] in the same role. In 1964, she sang Aïda at [[La Scala]]. Vishnevskaya was married to the [[cello|cellist]] [[Mstislav Rostropovich]] from 1955 until his death in 2007. Her husband, as well as being a great cellist and conductor, was also an excellent [[piano|pianist]] and he [[accompaniment (music)|accompanied]] her for her recitals. They were very close friends of [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]] and [[Benjamin Britten]] and performed a lot of their works. She made many recordings including the main part in Shostakovich's opera [[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District]] and in Britten's ''[[War Requiem]]''. She had not been allowed to take part in the first performance of the ''War Requiem'' because the Soviet politicians would not let her sing together with the [[baritone]] [[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]] because he was [[Germany|German]]. ==Retirement== In 1974, they left the [[Soviet Union]] because they had [[criticism|criticized]] the Soviet government. They settled in the [[United States]] and [[Paris]]. In 1982, she retired from singing in opera. Her last role was in Paris where she sang Tatyana in [[Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky's]] ''[[Eugene Onegin (opera)|Eugene Onegin]]''. After the collapse of communism and the Sovie