Born in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Region. Graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire (class of Larisa Rudakova). Trained at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Centre under Makvala Kasrashvili. Since 2014 she has been a soloist of the State Primorsk Opera and Ballet Theatre (now the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre). Elena made her Mariinsky Theatre debut as Salome at the premiere of new production in February 2017, immediately thereafter she became a member of the Mariinsky Opera Company. For the role of Salome she was awarded the Onegin Russian opera prize and St Petersburg's most prestigious theatre prize the Golden Sofit. Since the Operalia competition in 2016 the singer has been a much sought-after guest performer at opera houses in Europe and the USA. She has made her debuts with the Finnish National Opera and the Opéra National de Paris (Tatiana in Eugene Onegin), the Boston Lyric Opera (Tosca in the eponymous opera), the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin (Mimì in La Bohème), the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (Leonora in Il trovatore), the Bayerische Staatsoper (Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer) and the Metropolitan Opera (Sister Angelica in Suor Angelica) among other famed theatres. In the summer of 2019 Elena Stikhina made her debut at the Salzburg Festival, singing the title role in Cherubini’s opera Médée. The singer’s most recent engagements include appearances at the Semperoper in Dresden (Leonora in La forza del destino), De Nationale Opera in The Netherlands (Cio-Cio-san in Madama Butterfly), the Opéra National de Paris (La forza del destino and Prince Igor) and the Grand Théâtre de Genève (the title role in Aida). She made her debut at La Scala in Milan (as Salome), at the Zurich Opera (Salome), at the Royal Opera in London (as Tosca), at the Metropolitan Opera (Tosca), at the Vienna State Opera (Tosca).