Yuri Nechaev

Biography

Born in the town of Antratsit, Lugansk province (Ukraine). In 1983, he completed his studies at the vocal faculty of the Khabarovsk College of the Arts (Grigory Ivanov’s class) where, while still a student, he sang the title role in Sergei Rachmaninov’s opera Aleko and Nilakantha in Leo Delibes’ opera Lakme.
In 1988, he graduated from the vocal faculty of the Moscow Conservatory (Hugo Tits’ class). At the Conservatory’s opera studio he sang Onegin and Don Carlos (Alexander Dargomyzhsky’s The Stone Guest) and Arzamen (George Frideric Handel’s Serse). On leaving the Conservatory, he was a probationer at the Bolshoi Theatre for a year and in 1989 joined the Theatre’s Opera Company. During his time as probationer, he sang the role of Tomsky (The Queen of Spades) and Tonio in Pagliacci .
In 1989-2016 he was a leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company. 

Repertoire

Nechayev’s repertoire at the Bolshoi Theatre includes the following, among other, roles:
Prologue (Pagliacci)
Varyag (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mlada)
The Head (Rimsky-Korsakov’s Christmas Eve)
Georges Germont (La Traviata)
Andrei Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov)
Title role (Igor Borodin’s Prince Igor)
Title Role (Aleko)
Lanciotto Malatesta (Sergei Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini)
Amonasro (Aida)
Mandarin (Madama Butterfly)
Title Role (Falstaff)
Scarpia (Tosca)
Nabucco (Nabucco)
Grigory Gryaznoy (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride)
The Second Actor, The Second Robber (Banevich’s The Story of Kai and Gerda)

In 1995, he sang Shaklovity in the premiere of the first Bolshoi Theatre production of the Dmitry Shostakovich version of Khovanshchina (conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, director Boris Pokrovsky). He also sang this role at the premiere of the Bolshoi’s next production of this opera in 2002 (conductor Alexander Vedernikov, director Yuri Alexandrov).

Tours

In 1987, he sang the title role in a concert performance of Eugene Onegin at L’Opera Comique, in Paris (orchestra and chorus of the Paris Conservatory, conductor Leonid Nikolayev).
In 1999, he sang the title role in Mazeppa at La Scala (conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, director Lev Dodin, designer David Borovsky).
From 1995-2000, he appeared as guest artist at the Saint Gallen Opera House (Switzerland), where he sang the roles of Ezio (Verdi’s Atilla), Title role (Rigoletto), Marchese di Posa (Don Carlos), Escamilo (Carmen).
From 2001-06, he sang the roles of: Michele (Puccini’s Il tabarro) and Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana), in Toronto (Canadian Opera Company, conductor Richard Bradshaw); Conte di Luna (Il Trovatore) at the Palermo Festival, in Cardiff (Welsh National Opera) and in Detroit; Rigoletto in Bonn; Falstaff at the Norwich Theatre Royal, Norfolk and in Amsterdam; also in Amsterdam he sang Nabucco; Lanciotto Malatesta in Blumington (USA), The Baron (Rakhmaninov’s The Miserly Knight) at the Tenerife Theatre (Canary Islands, Spain). He took part in a performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Moskva Cantata at the Colon Theatre (Buenos Aires) and elsewhere.
He has often taken part in productions at opera festivals, for instance, in the city of Split, Horvatia (2001-05, Ezio, Amonasro), the Bartok and Verdi Festival in Mishkolts, Hungary (2001-06, Rigoletto, Scarpia), Opern Air (Gars am Kamp, Austria; 2007-08, Conte di Luna, Amonasro). He has given solo concerts in Barcelona (2003) and elsewhere.
In 2002, at La Scala, he sang Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov, conductor Valery Gergiev) and Robert (Iolanta, conductor Yuri Temirkanov).
In the same year, he appeared as The Mandarin (Turandot) at the Opera National de Paris (Opera Bastille, director Francesca Zambello).
In 2004, at the Metropolitan Opera he sang Rangoni (Boris Godunov, conductor Semyon Bychkov) and Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades, conductor Vladimir Jurowski, director Francesca Zambello).

e-mail: levinat@bk.ru