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Feodor Chaliapin as Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky

This a list of opera singers from Russian Federation, Soviet Union and Russian Empire including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities. This list includes those, who were born in the Russian Federation/Soviet Union/Russian Empire but later emigrated, and those, who were born elsewhere but immigrated to the country and performed there for a long time.

Opera came to Russia in the 18th century. At first there were mostly Italian language operas presented by Italian opera troupes. Later some foreign composers serving to the Russian Imperial Court began to write Russian-language operas, while some Russian composers were involved into writing of the operas in Italian and French. Only at the beginning of the 1770s the first modest attempts of the composers of Russian origin to compose operas to the Russian librettos were made. The 19th century was the golden age of Russian opera, with such prominent composers as Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Their traditions were carried on to the 20th century by Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres continue to be the main opera and ballet scenes of Russia and one of the most prominent in the world.

A number of Russian opera singers rose to fame already in the 18th century, but it was the late 19th and the 20th centuries that saw the appearance of many world-renown, well-remembered and still popular soloists, including Leonid Sobinov, Galina Vishnevskaya and, of course, Feodor Chaliapin, the greatest bass of all time.[ citation needed] Contemporary Russia is represented at the world scene with such singers as Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Anna Netrebko and Alexander Anisimov.

Alphabetical list

A

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Ğäziz Älmöxämmädev
Alexander Anisimov
Irina Arkhipova
Olga Averino
Arnold Azrikan

B

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Nikolay Baskov
Olga Borodina

C

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Feodor Chaliapin
(1873–1938)
Russian Empire
France

bass
The most famous Russian opera singer of the 20th century. The possessor of a large and expressive bass voice, he is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form.

Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Boito's Mefistofele, Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, Massenet's Don Quichotte, Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos, Glinka's Ivan Susanin, Khan Konchak in Borodin's Prince Igor

Chaliapin as Boito's Mefistofele, 1916

D

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Dilyara Idrisova

F

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Nikolay and Medea Figner

G

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Hibla Gerzmava
Yuri Aleksandrovich Gulyayev

H

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Helena Holl

K

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Victoria Karasyova Ended her career in 2009 due to health problems
Ljubov Kazarnovskaya
Alisa Kolosova
Bogomir Korsov
Praskovia Kovalyova-Zhemchugova
Ivan Kozlovsky
Maria Nikolaevna Kuznetsova

L

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Sergej Larin
Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya
Sergei Lemeshev
Julia Lezhneva

M

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Gavrilo Martsenkovich
Artyom Melikhov
Ivan Melnikov

N

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Yevgeny Nesterenko
Anna Netrebko
Antonina Nezhdanova

O

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Elena Obraztsova

P

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Osip Petrov
Vyacheslav Polozov
Marina Poplavskaya

R

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Mark Reizen
Nadezhda Repina
Vladimir Rosing

S

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Sara Sadíqova
Boris Shtokolov
Tamara Sinyavskaya
Leonid Sobinov
Pyotr Slovtsov
Fyodor Stravinsky

V

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Georgi Pavlovich Vinogradov
Galina Vishnevskaya

Y

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Ivan Yershov
Sergei Yudin

Z

Portrait Person Details Stage image
Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel
Elena Zoubareva