Born in St. Petersburg, Maria Gortsevskaya graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. She is recipient of the First prize at the Verviers International Competition, Belgium (1995). Since 2008 Maria Gortsevskaya lives in Berlin, Germany. She made her professional stage debut as Fyodor in Boris Godunov at Mariinsky theatre in the age of 19. She further appeared as Olga (Eugene Onegin), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Cenerentola (Cenerentola), Isabella (L’Ítaliana in Algeri), Siebel (Faust), and Mercedes (Carmen), among others and took part in the Andrei Konchalovsky’s production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace. <<cut>>
Maria Gortsevskaya performed with Mariinsky theatre in Royal Opera House London, Metropolitan Opera NY, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and the USA. Among her most acclaimed portrayals are Dorabella and Rosina. Rosina she has performed in the Dario Fo’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Marco Boemi on tour in the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain.
Maria Gortsevskaya has performed Melibea in Il Viaggio a Reims (Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), Fyodor (La Monnaie, Brussels), Baba The Turk in Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress (Festival Mozart, La Coruña and Bologna, Calixto Bieto, director), Clarina in cambiale di matrimonio by Rossini and Giustizia in Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots by Mozart (both at Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), Mother Superior in The Fiery Angel by Prokofiev (La Monnaie, Brussels), Rinaldo in Admira e Rinaldo by Sarti (Hermitage theatre, St.Petersburg) and many other roles.
In 2008 she performed Olga in Eugene Onegin (Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, UK). In 2008/09 she performed Der Hass in Armida by Gluck (Komische Oper Berlin), and Blanche in The Gambler by Prokofiev (Opera de Lyon). In 2009/10 she performed Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Cologne), Wellgunde in Das Rheingold (La Scala, Milano), Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte (Staatsoper unter den Linden). Between 2011 and 2013 engagements included Requiem and Coronation Mass by Mozart (The Netherlands), Alto Rhapsody by Brahms (Bolshoi Theater, Moscow), Wellgunde in Das Rheingold (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) and Die Götterdämmerung (La Scala, Milano and Staatsoper unter den Linden), as well as Wellgunde at BBC Proms (London) with Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim.
In 2014 Maria Gortsevskaya made her debut at Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya by Rimsky-Korsakov. 2015 marked her debut with Staatskapelle Dresden and Vladimir Jurowski at Schostakowitsch Tage Gohrisch, where she performed Six Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva by Shostakovich. The same year Maria Gortsevskaya got to perform at Luigi Nono Festival at Staatsope Berlin, singing a contralto solo part in the Guai ai Gelidi Mostri oratorio with Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt). In 2018 she took part in performing El Nino oratorio by John Adams, with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Vladimir Jurowski. She also participated in New Year’s concerts conducted by Jurowski (Beethoven, Symphony No.9, alto solo).
Her extended concert repertoire includes works by Shostakovich, Brahms, Pergolesi, Rossini, Haydn, Mozart, Händel, Vivaldi, Sarti, Stravinsky, Zemlinsky, Nono, and many contemporary composers. She gave solo recitals and concerts at the Théâtre du Châtelet, participated in Verdi Gala at Concertgebouw, and White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.
Maria Gortsevskaya participated in many audioand video recordings such as War and Peace and Fiery Angel for Philips Classics, and Cosi fan tutte for Euro Radio with the Latvian National Opera and La Cambiale di matrimonio for Dynamic (Rossini Opera Festival). Upon an invitation of film director Tony Palmer, she participated in the shooting of The Search for the Grail with Placido Domingo in the main part. She took part in video recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Teatro alla Scala and Staatsoper Berlin (conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Guy Cassiers as a stage director). In January 2020, just days before the pandemic, Maria Gortsevskaya was happy to make her debut with the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, singing a role in Eugene Onegin.