Irina Otiyeva

Irina Otiyeva is a Soviet and Russian jazz and pop singer, composer, and songwriter. She was born on November 22, 1958, in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR, into an Armenian family. Her family name is described as a Russified Armenian surname derived from Otyan or Otiyan, and as belonging to the ancient Armenian princely Amatuni dynasty. She studied piano at a music school, and her vocal range is given as three and a half octaves.

In 1976, she won her first major success as a laureate of a jazz festival in Moscow. In the same year, she entered the pop department of the Gnesin State Musical College. She performed as a soloist in Igor Bril's jazz ensemble and also studied at the Moscow Experimental Jazz Studio in jazz vocals. In 1980, she graduated from the Gnesin Musical College, having studied in the class of M. L. Korobkova. A year earlier she had become a soloist with the jazz orchestra conducted by Oleg Lundstrem.

Her competition successes continued in the 1980s. In 1982, she received first prize at the All-Russian competition for the best performance of a Soviet song, and in the same year became a laureate of the Berlin contest "8 Hits in the Studio." In 1983, she won first prize at the 7th All-Union Competition of Variety Artists and the Grand Prix at the international song contest of the Baltic countries in Karlshamn, Sweden. In 1985, she left Lundstrem's jazz orchestra, began working with the Moscow concert organization, and created the group Stimulus Band, with which she continued to work.

In 1986, at the International Song Festival in Sopot, she received a special jury prize for high performance mastery. In 1987, she appeared at the televised festival Song of the Year with the song "House of Cards," which became a prize-winning entry. In 1988, she took part in the musical duel on the program "Musical Ring: Irina Otiyeva versus Larisa Dolina." In 1989, she graduated from the Gnesin State Pedagogical Institute, where she studied vocals with I. D. Kobzon, and became a laureate of the international television contest "Step to Parnassus." During these years she participated in major international programs including "Stars of Europe" in Stockholm, "Bratislava Lyre," and "Inter-Talent" in Prague, and toured in Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Korea, Slovakia, Vietnam, the United States, Japan, Denmark, and Sweden.

In 1994, at the final Song of the Year festival, she received a special prize for preserving her creative individuality. In 1995, she appeared at the JVC World Jazz Festival in New York at Lincoln Center on the same stage as Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. In 1996, she marked twenty years of her artistic career and released the compact disc "Twenty Years in Love," which included songs recorded between 1979 and 1995, from "The Last Poem" to the later composition "Passion." In 1997, she was awarded the title Honored Artist of Russia.

Later in her career, Otiyeva continued to appear in television and public life. In 1999, she participated in another "Musical Ring" contest, this time against Soso Pavliashvili. In 2001, she was awarded the Order of the Revival of the Fatherland and had her noble title restored. In 2003, she joined the Yabloko party. In 2006, she began teaching vocals at the Gnesin Music Academy in its newly opened daytime pop-jazz department. In September 2008, she took part in the television competition "Superstar 2008. Dream Team," a musical contest between teams representing Russia and the USSR.

Her discography includes releases from the 1980s through the 2000s, among them "Irina Otiyeva Sings," "Music Is My Love," "Nostalgia for Myself," "Do Not Cry, Baby," "What Do You Think About This?," "Twenty Years in Love," and "My Little Angel." She also contributed vocals to films, including "You Could Never Dream Of...," "The Hat," "The Magicians," "TASS Is Authorized to Declare...," and other productions. Among her distinctions listed in the article are Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, the Order "For Fidelity to Duty," the Golden Order Cross "For Selfless Labor for the Benefit of Russia," the Order of Catherine the Great, 2nd Class, the medal "Professional of Russia," and later academic and honorary titles.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.