Antonina Nezhdanova

Nezhdanova was born in Krivaya Balka [uk], near Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (today Odesa, Ukraine).

Paris heard her in 1912, when she appeared opposite the tenor Enrico Caruso and the baritone Titta Ruffo.

Nezhdanova was the dedicatee of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, and she was the first performer of the arrangement for soprano and orchestra, with Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

After the Russian Revolution she stayed on at the Bolshoi, unlike some of her fellow opera singers, who left their native country for the West.

Nezhdanova made a number of recordings that display the beauty and flexibility of her voice and the excellence of her technique.