Gennady Bezzubenkov (Bass)
• People's Artist of Russia • Honoured Artist of the RSFSR • Recipient
of the State Prize of Russia • Order "For Services to the Fatherland", 2nd
Degree • Winner of the Casta Diva Prize (2004) • Winner of the Baltika
Prize (2002) • Recipient of Russia's national Golden Mask theatre prize for
the role of Gurnemanz in the opera Parsifal ("Best male role in opera",
1998) • Recipient of St Petersburg's most prestigious theatre prize the
Golden Sofit for the role of Gurnemanz in the opera Parsifal ("Best role in
musical theatre", 1997)
Gennady Bezzubenkov was born in Staraya Vitelevka, Ulyanovsk Region.
Graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1979 (class
of Boris Lushin and Nadezhda Velter). Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1989.
His repertoire includes over sixty roles, including: Ivan Susanin (A Life
for the Tsar) Farlaf, Svetozar (Ruslan and Lyudmila) Aminahar, Matho
(Salammbo, concert performance) Varlaam, Pimen (Boris Godunov) Ivan
Khovansky, Dosifey (Khovanshchina) Kum, Cherevik (Sorochintsy Fair, concert
performance) Konchak (Prince Igor) Prince Gudal (The Demon) Prince
Gremin (Eugene Onegin) Narumoff (The Queen of Spades) Rene, Bertrand
(Iolanthe) Chub (Christmas Eve) Yury Tokmakov (The Maid of Pskov) the
Sea King, Duda, Varangian guest, Luka Nazarievich (Sadko) Vasily Sobakin (The
Tsar's Bride) Prince Yury Vsevolodovich (The Legend of the Invisible City of
Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), Ghost of Virgil (Francesca da
Rimini) Chamberlain (the Nightingale) The General, A Fat Englishman (The
Gambler) The King of Clubs, Herald, Chelio the Magician (The Love for Three
Oranges) Faust (The Fiery Angel) Tkachenko (Semyon Kotko) Don Carlos,
Mendoza (Betrothal in a Monastery) Balaga, Marshal Davout, Kutuzov, Yermolov
(War and Peace) the Doctor (The Nose) Boris Timofeyevich, Priest and Old
Convict (Katerina Ismailova) Gavryushka (The Gambler) Zosima (The Brothers
Karamazov) Alidoro (La Cenerentola) Banquo (Macbeth) Doctor Granville
(La traviata) Padre Guardiano, Alcalde (La forza del destino) the King of
Egypt, Ramfis (Aida) Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlo) Lodovico, Montano
(Otello) Timur (Turandot) Coppelius (Les contes d'Hoffmann) Pope
Clement VII (Benvenuto Cellini) Commendatore (Don Giovanni) Old Jew
(Samson et Dalila) Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) Don Alfonso (Cosi fan
tutte) Orator, Zarastro (Die Zauberflöte) Daland (Der fliegende
Holländer) Landgrave (Tannhäuser) Heinrich der Vogler (Lohengrin) King
Marke (Tristan und Isolde) Donner, Fafner (Das Rheingold) Hunding (Die
Walküre) Fafner (Siegfried) Gurnemanz (Parsifal) First Nazarene
(Salome) Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila)
The singer's concert repertoire includes the bass parts in Verdi's Requiem,
Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's Die Schopfung, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Dvorak's
Stabat mater, Stravinsky's The Wedding, Sviridov's cantata St Petersburg,
Penderecki's Utrenja No.2 and Utrenja No.3, Sofia Gubaidulina's St John's
Passion, and Karetnikov's Mysteries of the Apostle Paul.
Gennady Bezzubenkov has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company in Germany,
France, Scotland (the Edinburgh Festival), Israel, the USA (Metropolitan Opera),
Finland, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Portugal,
Luxembourg and Turkey. He has appeared as a guest soloist at the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden (London), La Fenice (Venice), La Scala (Milan), the
Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Rome Opera House and the Los Angeles Opera
House. He has also taken part in opera festivals in Edinburgh and
Savonlinna.
Gennady Bezzubenkov has worked with outstanding contemporary musicians,
including conductors Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Yury Temirkanov, Yevgeny
Svetlanov, Maris Janssons and Gintaras Rinkevicius, and singers Luciano
Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Deborah Voigt, Olga Borodina, Sergey Larin and
Dmitry Khvorostovsky. His audio and video recordings with the Mariinsky Theatre
include War and Peace, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Iolanthe, Sadko, The Fiery Angel,
The Tsar's Bride and The Maid of Pskov (with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
conducted by Valery Gergiev for Philips Classics and NHK).
|