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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Vladimir Atlantov (1939)





Born on February 19th in Saint-Petersburg. Dramatic tenor. People's artist of the USSR (1976).
Born into a family of Opera singers. His father was a basso, a soloist of the Saint-Petersburg Maliy Opera Theater, and his mother was a lyrical soprano and a vocal teacher, a soloist of the Saint Petersburg Kirov Opera Theater and Maliy Opera Theater. She would reminisce and tell her young son about her performances alongside Chaliapin, Alchevskiy, Ershov, Nelepp. When he was a child, he used to spend his days in the Theater, in the backstage, in the property room, playing with different costumes and stage-preps. Many years after that he would say: “my destiny was already set for me at that stage”.
As a small child he survived through the horrible siege of Saint-Petersburg in World War II.
Started studying vocal from a very early age: when he was 6 years old he started studying in Glinka St-Petersburg State Academic Choir Capella, also studying the piano and the violin there,  eventually graduating with a diploma of a Conductor.
After finishing his studies in the Capella in 1956, he planned to enroll to a Musical College, but in 1957 he decided to try his luck and go before the admission board of the Vocal Faculty of St-Petersburg State Conservatory. He performed “Caro Mio Bel” and Glinka’s “Skylark” and left a great impression, immediately accepted to the preliminary course, and two years later - to the faculty itself, studying with N.D.Bolotina and A.N.Kireev, whom he described as a great fatherly figure which influenced him immensely. Alongside him studied the great singers Evgeniy Nesterenko and Elena Obrazcova. During his studies Atlantov underwent a crisis and had problems with his voice, which he overcame by reading the writings of Caruso and following his method.
On his fourth year of studies, he performed in the roles of Lensky, Alfred and Jose, and also receivced the Second Premium in the Second all-USSR M.I.Glinka Competition. These got him a lot of attention and mainly because of these two things he was accepted to the Kirov Opera Theater group of soloists as a trainee in 1962. In 1963, after graduating the conservatory, he became a full pledged soloist of the Theater.
At the same period his luck presented him with another opportunity – he was selected among many other talented young singers and sent to improve his skills in Milan, to the school for development of young singers of the La-Scala Opera Theater, where he had spent two years.
After returning from Italy, he started working on the difficult role of Alvaro in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino”, which he would perform in Moscow’s biggest venue – the Kremlin Conference Hall. The concert took part in 1965. The legendary American impresario Sol Hurok was present at the concert and was so impressed with the young singer, that he invited him to perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Theater.
In 1966 he has won and and was awarded the gold medal of the III International Chaikovsky competition. After hearing him sing in the competition the legendary Russian composer G.V.Sviridov said: “I’ve never heard a dramatic tenor of such beauty, expressiveness and power. He has a great future ahead of him”. The jury of the competition was comprised of such figures as the legendary Russian conductor A.V.Sveshnikov, the legendary Russian tenor S.Y.Lemeshev, the great basso M.O.Reizen, and two famous Soviet Opera Divas – M.P.Maksakova and I.K.Arkhipova. The famous American basso George London was also present at the competition, and said: “I was very well acquainted with Mario Lanza, and Atlantov reminded me of Lanza in his yearly days. He has a first-class operatic voice of great power with a noble and rich timbre. Such voices are a rare gift of nature”.
Atlantov made his debut at the Bolshoi Opera Theater when he was 25 years old, in the roles of Alfred and Lensky. After that he appeared as Jose in 1966. But his first big role as a full-pledged soloist of the Theater was Herman in January 1968. It was also his favorite role.
In 1967 Atlantov reached high places in prestigious international vocal competitions in Sofia and Montreal. In the same year he participated in the famous first exchange of tours between La-Scala and Bolshoi Opera Theaters, singing in Milan.
After his tour of Paris in 1969 a French critic wrote: “Vladimir Atlantov is a great revelation. He has shaken the French audience. His voice encompasses all of the virtues of an Italian and a Slavic tenor: “virility, lustre and depth”.
The great Russian tenor Sergey Lemeshev highly appreciated Atlantov, and treated him like a son. After seeing him perform Cavaradossi, he said that the best Italian tenors can learn from him. After his performance as Vodemon in “Iolanta” in 1974 Lemeshev wrote: “Vodemon in the rendition of Atlantov conquers the listener with his romanticism and chivalry. His voice is wide and powerful, highly emotional. His voice can be both tender and gentle, frightening and furious. The performances of Atlantov are always exciting and thrilling, because he is never indifferent. The difficult role of Vodemon was performed by him with great enthusiasm and mastery, true emotion. In his rendition the different moods of the character seem strikingly genuine. I would like to see him perform Othello – this role would fully reveal his tremendous abilities”. And Atlantov indeed performed marvelously in the role of Othello, but already after Lemeshev’s death.
Among his other great roles were Don Carlos, Imposter-Prince, Sadko, Canio. Canio was also among his last performances in the Bolshoi in 1985. Other parts he performed in the Bolshoi were: Vladimir Igorevich, Pinkerton, Paolo, Don Juan, Mozart, Semen (“Semen Kotko”). All in all he had about 40 parts in his repertoire.
In 1988 Atlantov has left the Bolshoi and Russia and continued his career in the best Opera Theaters in the world, including La-Scala, Metropolitan Theater, Covent-Garden, Vienna Opera, and others.
In 1978 he, among 7 of the world's greatest singers was invited to take part in a concert dedicated to a Caruso birth centenary, taking place in the Neapolitan St. Carlo Theater. In 1987 he had received the honorary title of the Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper.
His wife is Tamara Milashkina – a promeinent opera singer, lyric-dramatic soprano, a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, People's artist of the USSR.
Gave master-classes in Saint-Petersburg Conservatory and the Academy of Young Opera Singers of the Mariinsky Theater.
Received the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic M.I.Glinka Premium (1978), and the Medal of the Red Banner of Labor (1971, 1981).

 

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