Olga Averino

A white émigré to the United States in the wake of the Russian Civil War, she was prominent in the musical life of Boston for over 60 years, first as a singer and later as a distinguished voice teacher.

Amongst the many works in which she performed there, were Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Bach's Mass in B Minor, Ravel's Sheherazade, Debussy's Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, and the American premiere of Alban Berg's Lied der Lulu.

During her long career as a performer she sang in lieder, oratorio and opera and worked with many prominent 20th century composers including Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, and Glazunov.

[1] She also toured the United States in a series of joint recitals with the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, where her accompanist was Alexander Siloti, the last pupil of Franz Liszt.

Curtin said of her teacher: Impatient of sloppy musicianship, demanding emotional commitment, she gave me a vision of the art of singing that led me the rest of my life.

[3]Her charismatic teaching style was also recalled by composer and critic, Greg Sandow, who studied under her at the Longy School: [She] would bring her students all together for a class.

Olga would demand, and then sing the opening of the song six times, in six precisely differentiated shades of anger, as distinct as six different people.