Irena Milkevičiūtė

It is our imagination that draws a distinction between the person and the legend. The way we see celebrities act in front of the audience differs from the way we see them conduct themselves behind the scenes and, even more so, in their everyday lives. And yet we get a totally different picture gleaned from the pierced together evidence of intricate mosaic of their lives. The Countess from The Queen of Spades is like a jigsaw puzzle, which is hard to fathom all at once. What if there has never been such a thing as a secret combination of cards… What if the old Countess was but a fancy of the mad gambler?
Irena Milkevičiūtė, a prima donna of Lithuanian opera, has a wealth of secrets too, which she brings with her on stage while performing the role of the Countess. She has performed most of the dream roles ever written for a soprano and honed her vocal techniques at La Scala at a time when one could only dream of traveling abroad. If one could become a fly on the wall sometime in the past… Irena has received worldwide recognition but remained humble and continues to share her knowledge with the young generation of singers as an esteemed professor.