Dear Gentlemen,

In this blog I have tried to assemble a list of prominent Soviet tenors – tenors behind the Iron Curtain – singers the careers of which went largely obscure from the Western public because of the political realities of the era they were part of – realities which dictated the detachment of the Soviet opera from its Western counterpart.
It just so happened that these times were the Golden Era of the Russian Opera, and the voices that were hidden behind the Iron Curtain were of a remarkable quality.
In addition to that, the revival of these voices in the West is also of much interest because of the unique character and the idiosyncratic nature of the Soviet school of operatic singing, which was different from the Western in many aspects.
By “voices behind the Iron Curtain” I mean those artists whose entire career or a significant part of it developed during the most ideologically radical years of the Soviet rule and the Soviet Union’s disconnection from the West, and not those who had already established a name for themselves in an earlier period, or those who have only started their way in Soviet Union’s very last days or are singing well into the present – both are more familiar to the Western public.
In cases of some of the singers the information and the recordings presented here is all that is left of them, and in some cases appears for the first time in the internet, or in English and for the Western public.

You can reach me at:


Lutfiyar Imanov (1928)






Born on 17th of April in the city of Petropavlovka (now Sabirabad). People’s artist of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan (1977).
First started to sing in school, and sang with its chorus in Sabirabad State Theater of Drama. In the age of 18 he created his own dramatic group.
In 1943 made his first amateur debut in Sabirabad State Musical Theater in the drama “A bride for five pennies”.
In 1948 started working as an art director in the Sabirabad City Culture Hall.
In 1957 graduated from the vocal department of the Zeinalla Baku city Musical College after three years of studies (class of A.Milovanov).
In 1954-56 he was a soloist of the Azerbaijani Radio Society, in 1956-57 - a soloist of Azerbaijani State Stage Orchestra, and in 1956-59 - a soloist of the Theater of Musical Comedy. In 1959 he also made his professional operatic debut in the main role in a play “Kerogly” by Uzeir Gadzibekov in Moscow.
From 1958 to his death he was a soloist of the Azerbaijani State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.
In 1962 he enrolled into the Faculty of Theatrical Studies of the Azerbaijani University of Culture and Arts, graduating from it in 1968.
In 1965 he underwent an apprenticeship in the Bolshoi Theater and in 1975 – in La-Scala.
Starting from 1968 he sang in the main roles in more than 30 operas. Some of his best roles were Rhadames, Jose, Herman, Manrico, Othello, Duke, Faust, Cavaradossi.
In 1980 and 1985 he was elected to be a member of the High Soviet of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialistic Republic.
In 1987-1991 he was the chairman of the Azerbaijani Society of Theater Artists.
Along with his singing career, he was also teaching in Azerbaijani State Conservatory, where he was a professor, and in 1991-1995 – in the Musical schools of Istanbul and Izmir.
During the 1990-ies went to tours in Italy, Germany and Iran.
Was given the highest award of the Republic of Azerbaijan – the “Istiglal” sign.
Died in January 2008.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)