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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Mihail Alexandrovich (1914)



Born on July 23rd in Berspils, Latvia. Acclaimed Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialistic Republic (1947).
His father, an amateur musician, spotted the clean and strong voice, the exceptional musical memory and hearing of his son in an early age.
In 1921 his family moved to the capital city of Riga, where he began studying in the jewish conservatory.
In 19.10.1923 the first public concert of the young singer was held with a great success. In 1924-1926 the he toured Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Germany with acclaim.
In the period of 1927-1933 studied violin in Riga Conservatorium.
Gave solo concert again in Riga in january 1933, and in the same year started working as a cantor in a synagogue in Riga. In august 1934 went to Manchester, England, where he became the head-cantor of the local synagogue. When living in England, Alexandrovich periodically travelled to Italy, where he took lessons with Beniamino Gigli.
In 1937 he got back to Latvia, where he took the role of the cantor of the choral synagogue "Ogel Yaakov" in Caunas, sang at the local opera and gave concerts.
In 1940 Alexandrovich got an invitation from Opera State Company of Belorussia to work in Minsk, and starting from 1941 began giving converts in Minsk and other belorussian cities.
During the World War II, Alxandrovich gave numerous performances before soldiers, went to tour in Baku, Tbilissi, Erevan.
In june 1943 in the first time he appeared in Moscow. His virtuoso abilities and success in the singing of toughest most arias won great acclaim of the moscow public. Starting from 1945 he went on numerous tours all over USSR.
In 1948 he received the Stalin's Award. In the USSR 70 records with his singing were issued, in a 2 million edition.
During his career in the USSR not a single time was he allowed to tour in the West.
In october 1971 Alexandrovich exited the USSR for Israel, and in 1973 went to the USA. With a great success he gave concerts in Tel-Aviv, New-York, Toronto, Rio-de-Janeiro, Sydney, Buenos-Aires, sang at different synagogues.
In 1985 in Munich saw light the book of his memoirs - "I remember...".