Vladimir Matorin

Biography

Born in Moscow. In 1974, he completed his studies at the State Music-Pedagogical Institute — today The Russian Gnesin Academy of Music — (Evgeny Ivanov’s class).
From 1974-91, he was a soloist with Moscow’s Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre.
In 1989, Boris Godunov in his interpretation was acclaimed as the best opera role of the year.
Since 1991, Vladimir Matorin has been teaching at the Russian Academy of Theatre Art where, in 1994, he was made Professor and head of the faculty of solo singing.
Matorin joined the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company, as soloist, in 1991.

Repertoire

His Bolshoi Theatre repertoire includes the following, among other, roles:
Prince Yuri (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia)
King Rene (Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta)
Don Basilio (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia)
Title role, Varlaam (Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov)
Title role (Glinka’s Life for a Tsar/Ivan Susanin)
Gremin (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin)
Galitsky, Konchak (Borodin’s Prince Igor)
The Old Gypsy (Rachmaninov’s Aleko)
Tsar Dodon (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel)
Dosifey, Ivan Khovansky (Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina)
Ramfis (Verdi’s Aida)
King of Clubs (Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges)
Miller (Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s Rusalka)
Sobakin (Rimsky-Korsakov’sThe Tsar’s Bride)
Mamyrov (Tchaikovsky’s The Enchantress)
Priest (Shostakovich’s Katerina Izmailova)

In all, Vladimir Matorin has over sixty roles in his repertoire.

Tours

He has sung at the world’s leading opera-houses, and has been on tour to England, Italy, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, China, Japan, USA, Mongolia, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Cyprus.
In 1993, he took part in the Wexford Festival (Ireland) in a production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Slippers. In the same year, he sang the title role in Boris Godunov at Le Grand Theatre de Geneve.
In 1994, he sang the part of the Head in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night at the Cologne Philharmonic and he sang the title role in Boris Godunov at Chicago’s Lyric Theatre.
In 1995, he sang the part of the Head (May Night) at the Wexford Festival (conductor Vladimir Jurowski).
In 1996, he sang Dosifey (Khovanshchina) at Opera Nantes, the title role (Boris Godunov) at the National Theatre in Prague and Pimen (Boris Godunov) at Opera Montpelier (France).
In 1997, he sang the title role (Boris Godunov) at the Grand Opera, Houston (Texas).
In 1998, he took part in a concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Enchantress at London’s Festival Hall (Royal Opera, conductor Valery Gergiev), appeared as Mendoza in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery at Le Grand Theatre de Geneve, and as Burya-bogatyr at a concert performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kashchey the Immortal, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Festival Hall (conductor Alexander Lazarev).
In 1999, he sang Tsar Dodon (The Golden Cockerel) in a Royal Opera production at London’s Sadlers Wells (conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky).
In 2001, he sang Mendoza (Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery) for L’Opera National de Lyon (conductor Oleg Gaetani). In 2002, he sang Pimen (Boris Godunov) at Paris National Opera (music director and conductor James Conlon, director Francesca Zambello), and the title role in Boris Godunov at L’Opera National de Lyon (conductor Ivan Fischer, director Philip Himmelman, a co-production with Manheim’s National Theatre).
In 2003, he sang the title role in Boris Godunov in theatres in Auckland and Wellington (New Zealand) and the part of Varlaam in the same opera at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (production Andrei Tarkovsky, conductor Semyon Bychkov).
In 2004, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Pimen (conductor Semyon Bychkov), and he sang Pimen and Varlaam (Boris Godunov) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.
In 2005, he sang Varlaam (Boris Godunov) at Brussels’ Theatre de la Monnaie, and also the parts of Tikhon Shcherbatov and Yamshchik Balaga (Prokofiev’s War and Peace) at the Paris National Opera (conductor Vladimir Jurowski, director Francesca Zambello).
In 2006, he sang Sparafucile (Rigoletto) at the Opera du Marseille.
In 2007, he sang Boris Timofeyevich (The Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk) at Le Grand Theatre de Geneve, Sparafucile at Opera Nantes, Varlaam at the Opera du Rhin and at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
In 2008, he sang Mendoza on the stage of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (Valencia), Police Sergeant (The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (conductor James Conlon, director Lev Dodin).
In 2013 Vladimir Matorin performed the role of Varlaam (Boris Godunov) at the Bayerusche Staatsoper and Münchner Opernfestspiele (conductor Kent Nagano, director Calixto Bieito).
He took part in the concert performance of The Tsar`s Bride at the Lincoln Center Festival, New York, and at the Hong Kong Arts Festival (conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, 2014 & 2015).
In 2015 he appeared at the Theater Basel as Ivan Khovansky in Khovanshchina new production (conductor Kirill Karabits, director Vasily Barkhatov).
In 2016/17 season he returned to the Bayerusche Staatsoper as Varlaam.
In 2018, appeared as Sobakin (The Tsar’s Bride) at the Shanghai Grand Theatre (Bolshoi’s tour in China, conductor Tugan Sokhiev).

Vladimir Matorin sings church music and gives a lot of concerts. He has appeared in solo concerts at the Bolshoi Theatre’s Beethoven Hall, at government concerts in the Kremlin, in the Russian Embassies in Paris, London, Rome, Berlin, at the Deutsche Oper (Berlin), the French Senate. He appeared in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 in Montpelier (France) and he sang in Mussorgsky’s vocal cycle Songs and Dances of Death, in Antwerp.

Discography

Vladimir Matorin’s recordings include:
Modest Mussorgsky’s Sorochintsy Fair — Cherevik, conductor V. Esipov, 1983
Sergei Rachmaninov’s Aleko — The Old Gypsy, conductor D. Kitayenko, 1990
Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini — Lanciotto Malatesta, conductor A. Chistyakov, 1992
Aleko — title role, conductor A. Chistyakov, Le Chant du Monde, 1994
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night — The Head, conductor A. Lazarev, Capriccio, 1997
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kashchey the Immortal — Burya-bogatyr, conductor A. Chistyakov
Vissarion Shebalin’s The Taming of the Shrew — Hortensio.