Natalia Shpiller

Natalia Dmitrevna Shpiller, sometimes spelled Natalia Spiller, Natalya Shpiller, Natalʹja Špiller, or Natalʹia Shpiller,

Russian dictator Joseph Stalin loved Shpiller's singing voice, and frequently requested her to perform at banquets held at the Moscow Kremlin for foreign diplomats.^[2] In 1940 she performed the role of Sieglinde in a concert version of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre at the Kremlin for a gala held in honor of visiting German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, an event through which Stalin hoped to cement friendship between Russia and Nazi Germany.^[2] In 1941 she was one of the first recipients of the USSR State Prize.^[3] She was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943 and 1950.^[2] In 1947 she was named a People's Artist of Russia, and in 1951 she was awarded the Lenin Prize.^[2][3] She was also granted permission to travel abroad four times during her career, a rare opportunity for Russian artists of that era.^[2]

For forty-five years she taught on the singing faculty at the Gnessin State Musical College.^[3] She began her career there as a lecturer in 1950 and was made a full professor in 1963.^[3] During her tenure she was head of the college's department of opera training from 1964 through 1975, and then head of the voice faculty from 1975 through 1979.^[3] She continued to teach on the singing faculty up until her death in 1995.^[3]

She died in Moscow on 20 July 1995.^[3] Her husband was the cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky.^[3]

References

External links

• Biography of Natalia Shpiller at the Bolshoi Theatre (in Russian)