The Russian dramatic soprano Elena Pankratova studied with her fellow soprano Renata Scotto, concentrating initially on the Italian repertory. Her first appearance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu will be in a highly dramatic role that is ideally suited to her voice.  She first drew attention in Florence in 2010, when she made her debut as Barak's Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten (Richard Strauss), conducted by Zubin Mehta. Since then she has sung at several important opera houses, including those of Munich, London and Milan, with other distinguished conductors such as Kent Nagano, Kirill Petrenko and Valery Gergiev.