After graduating from Astrakhan Academy of Music, and then from State music teacher’s training college named after the Gnesins with 2 professions – leader of folk choir (1976) and solo folk singing (1981), Nadezhda Babkina acquired a solid foundation of knowledge and skills in the area of Russian folk singing performance. During 25 years of creative activity she became a real master – a singer of Russian folk songs, who knows their fundamental features and can simultaneously work with them in accordance with present time. Nadezhda Babkina is a founder and a permanent leader of Russkaya Pesnya ensemble (since 1974), well-known both in Russia and abroad. This unique singing emsemble has been for many years in the lead among folk singing groups. Nadezhda Babkina managed to create songing ensemble, which perfectly masters the art of ensemblance, singing styles in different regions of Russia, different historical periods and movements in Russian music, including sacred songs and modern art songs. It is the excellence of singing that allows the ensemble and its leader to start on scores of any technical complexity, work quickly and productively, master new repertoire fast and create new concert programmes. However, the artists do not set a task to preserve ethnographic authenticity. Their performances are always creative, impulsive, improvisatory; folk songs in their execution represent very fine and stylistically accurate arrangements, which combine delicate treatment of traditional elements (dialects, song structure, manner of execution) and modern interpretation of folk songs. This feature of the ensemble is emphasized by stage costumes of the artists: always bright, stylish, creating a special mood of the performance.

A lot of songs with different genre and different character are represented in original thematic programs (Svadba, Maslenitsa, Nochnoye Gadanie and others), which are racy not only from the point of view of music and poetic language, but also of stage performance.Nadezhda Babkina is for the present the only choirmaster, who graduated fron High Acting Courses by GITIS, who embodies folklore on the stage professionally and brilliantly. It is the more so essentially, because folklore is syncretic by its nature, and the ability to “act the song” allows the artists to accieve faithful representation in rendering its meaning.

Having great organisational skills and wishing to influence the processes of preserving and development of Russian folk singing more actively, Nadezhda Babkina created on the basis of her singing ensemble Moscow State folklore centre Russkaya Pesnya (1989), which, apart from the ensemble with the same name, included new creative structures – folk group Nasledie, experimental creative studio Slavyane, Russkiy Duet, School of folk singing etc.

The activity of Russkaya pesnya centre is carried out within the framework of state program of spiritual renewal of Russia. There are many large-scale actions on its account, the initiator of which is Nadezhda Babkina. Thus, thanks to her activity in April, 1993 Nizhniy Novgorod held the first Russian Folk Festival Nizhegorodskaya Karusel. Within its framework chaired by N.Babkina was held a contest of professional singers of Russian folk songs and art songs, and a presentation of concert program Russkaya Pesnya Sobiraet Druzey. The prime mover of this program became Nadezhda Babkina –singer and actress, dramatist and director, master of ceremonies. This concert show, integral and compact in its form, deeply national by its content, caused a special interest of the audience and later had a great success with viewers from different towns and cities in Russia and abroad.