Sergey Polyakov’s operatic career started at Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow. Currently, he is mostly performing on European venues collaborating with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, Latvian and Estonian National Operas, National Theater Mannheim (Germany) and Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania (Italy)...
Singer became well known for his leading parts in operas by Giuseppe Verdi (Don Carlo, Il Trovatore, Aida); Giacomo Puccini (Turandot, Manon Lescaut, Tosca, La fanciulla del West) and his contemporaries (Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Giordano’s Fedora).
He pays respect to Russian repertoire as well: the Pretender in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Sergei in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District are among others. At the present moment he is in the most demand in Russian opera: particularly as Herman in The Queen of Spades. This part he performed at Mariinsky Theatre, Novaya Opera, Tatar Opera and Ballet Theatre.
His debut as Herman witnessed a tremendous success at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in January 2019. It seemed at first that circumstances were against him: he had to perform without rehearsals replacing an artist who got sick, taking into consideration that this is a radical production by Stefan Herhaim, who is setting quite challenging acting tasks for his actors. Challenge, which The Queen in London posed in front of him, turned out to be a lucky card. He played it 100 per cent well. His playing received considerable attention due to the fact that production was broadcasted online.
“His performance was remarkably lyrical and rather intense, perhaps a little careful (which is completely understandable) but with a fine slow-burn leading to the climactic final act. This was a performance I would love to come across again in a more conventional production where the intensity of Polyakov’s performance would be matched by the focus being on his character,” such an impression had left British composer and journalist Robert Hugill in his blog (planethugill.com, 2019.01).
His repertoire plans for the next season were predetermined by his success: Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Aalto Musiktheater Essen were already awating for Polyakov in his starring role as Herman. Then the Latvian National Opera, in turn, invited him to perform in the production of The Queen of Spades directed by Andrejs Žagars and revived by Juris Žagars in February 2020. In August, the singer was applauded by the audience of the Vilnius City Opera.
Art. Lebedev Studio