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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Valeriy Egudin (1937)






Born on August 29th in the city of Kotovsk, Odessa region. Dramatic tenor. People's Artist of the USSR (1983).
First started to sing while studying in a college in the city of Abakan, where he took part in a students’ vocal group. This little amateur group became famous in Abakan and won several awards. Egudin also narrated and acted in drama stagings, and even directed a play.
Egudin became a laureate of the Moscow 1957 Youth Festival singing contest, performing the aria of Robert from “Iolanta”.
In 1958 he started to work in the Novosibirsk Opera Theater as a small-role actor in mass scenes.
In 1960 he started to study in Novosibirsk conservatory. In the first year and a half of studies he had thought he was a baritone, and only then started to further develop his tenor voice. The switch was very difficult for the young singer.
Made his debut in the Novosibirsk Opera Theater in 1961 in the role of the Preacher in the opera "In the path of the Thunder" by M.Magidenko, while still on his second year of studies in the conservatory. He was still not a full-pledged soloist, but a member of an apprentice group of singers. After that he had performed in secondary roles in “Boris Godunov” and “Tzar’s Bride”. His real breakthrough came with the role of Oleg Bayan in “Bed-Bug” by Lazarev. After this role the administrators of the Theater started seeing in him a candidate for much more significant parts.
In 1965 graduated from Novosibirsk conservatory (class of A.P.Zdanovich, L.Y.Hinchina).
He was planned to be sent to study in Italy, along with a few other very promising young Soviet singers, but in the last moment the authorities backed up.
Egudin performed in the Novosibirsk Opera Theater for 30 years, then serving 9 years as the Theater's director. As a director revived the operas “Othello” and “Queen of Spades” on the stage of the Theater. Under his guidance the Novosibirsk Opera Theater has received many prestigious awards.
Among the 60 roles in his repertoire were Herman, Rhadames, Jose, Manrico, Cavaradossi, De Grie, Canio, Sadko, Duke, Steersman ("The Flying Dutch"), Carlos, Joinek, Pierre Bezuhoff. He was also considered as one of the best Othello's in Russia. Othello was also the role he performed in his last performance before his retirement.
Was a member of the Communist party from 1982.
In 1976-1992 was the head of the Vocal Department in Novosibirsk conservatory (from 1984 - professor).
Gave master classes in The National Academy of Musical and Scenic Arts in Brno, Czech Republic and in the Heidelberg-Mannheim High School of Music in Germany.
Died on December 4th 2007 after a long illness.