After completing piano and choir conducting studies, Russian soprano IRINA LUNGU graduated at the State Academy of Music of Voronezh (Russia) in 2003.

She has won numerous international competitions, such as the Tchaikovsky Competition of Moscow, the Elena Obraztsova competition in Saint Petersburg, the Grand Prix Maria Callas in Athens, the Montserrat Caballé in Andorra, the Belvedere in Vienna, the Voci Verdiane in Busseto, and Operalia in Los Angeles.

From 2003 to 2005, she attended the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala of Milan under the guidance of Leyla Gencer. In Italy, she debuted in Donizetti’s Parisina in Bergamo, Ugo, conte di Parigi at Teatro Bellini in Catania, and Moïse et Pharaon under the baton of Riccardo Muti at Teatro alla Scala, where she returned to sing Tchaikovsky’s The Slippers, Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, and, in the 2007/08 season, La traviata conducted by Lorin Maazel.

In the 2007/08 season she starred as the main character of a new edition of Maria Stuarda and of La traviata at Teatro alla Scala, in Carmen at Sferisterio in Macerata, in La bohème during the Settimane Musicali of Stresa, and in Il corsaro at Festival Verdi in Parma. She recently debuted in Il turco in Italia at Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa.

In the 2009 season, she sang La traviata in Verona at Teatro Filarmonico and in Turin, Maria Stuarda in Venice, and Carmen in Arena di Verona.

She recently performed in La traviata in Vienna; at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin; in Wiesbaden; at the Aix-en--Provence Festival; in Dijon, Caen, and at Teatro San Carlo in Naples; with Faust and L’elisir d’amore at Teatro alla Scala, in Beijing, and in La Coruna; Carmen in Salerno; and Rigoletto in Turin.

Upcoming performances include Carmen in Arena di Verona, Un giorno di regno in Bilbao, Falstaff in Milan, Rigoletto at Aix-en-Provence, Rhin, and La Monnaie, and La bohème in London.