Raisa Gorbacheva Raisa Gorbacheva Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva ( "Raisa Maksimovna Gorbachyova", , Титаре́нко; 5 January 1932 – 20 September 1999) was a Russian activist who was the wife of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. She raised funds for the preservation of Russian cultural heritage, fostering of new talent, and treatment programs for children's blood cancer. Raisa Maximovna Titarenko was born in the city of Rubtsovsk in the Altai region of Siberia. She was the eldest of three children of Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko, a railway engineer originally from Chernigov in Ukraine, and his Siberian wife, Alexandra Petrovna Porada, originally from Veseloyarsk. She spent her
Rosa Raisa Enrico Caruso, participated as Helen of Troy in Arrigo Boito's "Mefistofele" with Claudia Muzio, John McCormack and Adamo Didur, and substituted for Claire Dux as the Countess in "Le nozze di Figaro". The London company went to Paris and she sang her only Nedda in "Pagliacci" and again sang Amelia in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera". In November 1914 publisher Tito Ricordi, who had personally auditioned Raisa in his studio, recommended her to the management of the Modena opera for a long run (Raisa recalled nineteen performances) of Riccardo Zandonai's new opera, "Francesca da Rimini", first performed in Turin only