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.

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Vitaliy Kilchevskiy (1899)







Born on 11th of October in the village of Lipnishki in the Oshmyanski district of Vilenski region (now in Lithuania). Lyrical tenor. Acclaimed Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialistic Republic (1945).
When in the army took part in amateur band.
In 1932 started studying in the Third Musical College in Saint-Petersburg, and also took the class of vocal with the professor S.V.Akimova in Saint-Petersburg conservatory. There, along with P.G.Lisitsian and L.M.Kavrovskiy, took active part in the founding of a youth Opera theater.
In 1934-35 Kilchevskiy performed in the stagings of the Opera Studio of the conservatory, while at the same time working as a lecturer in the Philosophy department.
In 1936 he graduated from St-Petersburg conservatory (class of S.V.Akimova) and became a soloist of the St-Petersburg Maliy Opera Theater.
From 1944 - performed in St-Petersburg Kirov Opera Theater.
In 1947-1955 - soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. In 1951-52 he was the deputy director of the Theater.
Among his roles: Lensky, Vodemon, Almaviva, Sinodal, Levko, Gerald, Duke, Faust, Romeo, Alfred, Indian Guest,  Karl VII, Vladimir Dubrovskiy, Vladimir Igorevich.
The famous basso I.Petrov recalled that Kilchevskiy was a very artistic singer, with a lyrical tenor that was especially strong in the higher register. When he would perform Faust or Romeo, he would take the highest notes so easily and comfortably, and they sounded so powerful, that all of his fellow soloists would rejoice.
His extensive repertoire also featured songs and romances.
Kilchevskiy also took part in movies – he played in the role of the opera singer in the movie “Anton Ivanovich is Angry” (1941).
Also gave concerts. Toured abroad in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, East-Germany.
Died in 1986.