Nina Dorliak was a Russian Soviet chamber and opera singer (soprano). She was born on 7 July 1908 in Saint Petersburg and died on 17 May 1998 in Moscow. She was later named People's Artist of the USSR in 1990.
Dorliak was born into a family with French, English, and German roots. Before her family moved to Moscow, she studied at the German St. Peter's School (Petrischule). Her initial musical education came from her mother, Ksenia Dorliak. In 1932 she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in her mother's class, and in 1935 she completed postgraduate studies there under the same guidance.
In 1933-1935 she sang at the opera studio of the Moscow Conservatory, performing Mimi in Puccini's La bohème and Susanna and Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. From 1935 she appeared in concerts and became especially known for her chamber performances. From 1943 she performed in ensemble with Sviatoslav Richter, who later became her husband.
Her concert repertoire included romances, neglected operatic arias by Russian and Western European composers, and vocal lyrics by Soviet authors, of which she was often the first performer. She gave first performances of a number of chamber works by Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, including the vocal cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry during 1948-1955.
From 1935 Dorliak taught solo singing at the Moscow Conservatory, becoming professor in 1947. She trained many notable singers. She toured in countries of the Eastern Bloc, including Czechoslovakia, China, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. In 1961 she left the stage.
After her death, the Moscow apartment of the Richters on Bolshaya Bronnaya Street, which she bequeathed to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, became connected with the Sviatoslav Richter Memorial Apartment. Dorliak died in Moscow in 1998, having outlived her husband by one year, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery beside her mother and brother.
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