Mikhail Svetlov

Biography

In 1983, he graduated from Moscow State Conservatoire (Evgeny Nesterenko’s class).
From 1983-96, he was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre.

His repertoire at the Bolshoi included the following, among other, roles:
Gusli player (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and of the Maiden Fevronia)
Galitsky (Prince Igor)
Title role (Haendel’s Giulio Cesare)
Sobakin (The Tsar’s Bride)
Gremin (Eugene Onegin)
Saltan (The Tale of Tsar Saltan)
Angelotti (Tosca)
Dodon (The Golden Cockerel)
Dosifey (Khovanshchina)
King Rene (Iolanta)
Mendoza (Betrothal in a Monastery)
Dunua (The Maid of Orleans)
Boris Godunov (Boris Godunov)
Mephistopheles (Faust)
Ferrando (Il Trovatore)

The singer’s international career took off with his debut at the Wexford Festival.
He sang Ferrando (Il Trovatore) at the Salzburg Festival, Sparafucile (Rigoletto) at the Hamburg State Opera, took part in a performance of Don Giovanni at the Yehudi Menuhin Festival in Gstaad.

At the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bavarian State Opera he appeared as the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlo), and sang Zaccaria (Nabucco) for both the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova and the Arena di Verona.

Appears frequently in the USA and Canada.
He has sung Mephistopheles (Faust) at Houston Grand Opera, Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dikoy (Katya Kabanova) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto) for Opera de Montreal. He has appeared at Florida Grand Opera as Boris and Varlaam (Boris Gonunov), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) and as Dikoy (Katya Kabanova). At the New York City Opera he has sung the title role in Attila, Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Colline (La Boheme), Banquo (Macbeth) and Rosenkranz (Mathis der Maler) in the United States premiere of the work.

He sang with the Opera de Bellas Artes Mexico, appearing as Fafner (Das Rheingold), Mephistopheles (Faust), Banquo (Macbeth), Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’Amore), Walter (Luisa Miller), Ramfis (Aida). Other appearances include Sarastro (Die Zauberfloete) for Opera Carolina, Ramfis (Aida) for Opera Columbus, and Osmin (Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail) with for Atlanta Opera.

He also appeared at the Gars am Kamp-Open Air Festival as Zaccaria and made his debut with New Zealand Opera as Mephistopheles.

Recent engagements include:
Sir Giorgio Valton (I Puritani) at the Baltimore Opera
Osmin (Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail) and Scarpia (Tosca) at Atlanta Opera, Opera de Bellas Artes Mexico and Florida Grand Opera
Varlaam at San Diego Opera
Archibaldo (L’Amore dei tre Re) and Bluebeard (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle) at Opera de Quebec.

He has performed at Teatro Carlo Felice, Arena di Verona, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Baltimore Opera, Atlanta Opera Company, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Deutshe Oper Berlin, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Opera de Bellas Artes, New Zeland Opera, Teatro Colon. Has participated in the Bregenz Festival, Salzburg Festival, Gstaad Festival (Switzerland ); Holland Park Opera Festival; Edinburgh Festival; Britten Festival ( UK ); Chaliapin Festival (Russia ).

Has performed with London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish Orchestra, State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, American Symphony Orchestra, RAI Orchestra.
Has collaborated with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Nello Santi, Antal Doraty, Alexander Lazarev, Hans Graf, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yehudi Menuhin, Leon Botstein, Yury Temirkanov, Evgeny Svetlanov, Ulf Shirmer.