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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Denis Korolev (1938)






Born on October 24th in Moscow. Dramatic tenor. Acclaimed Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1976).
In 1958 enrolled to Moscow’s conservatory Vocal department (class of G.I.Titz), finishing his studies in 1965.
In 1964, during his fifth year of studies, he was accepted as a soloist in Stanislavski and Nemerovich-Danchenko Moscow Musical Theater.
In 1964 he also performed in his first role on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater as Lensky, with his partner being the famous baritone Georg Ots. Lensky later became his crown role.
In 1965 he became a trainee, and then a soloist of the Bolshoi, performing there in 1965-86.
Among his roles: Almaviva, Yorodiviy, Berendey, Indian Guest, Mozart, Alfred, Duke, Manilov ("Dead Souls"), Lykov (War and Peace", Sergei Prokofiev).
Also gave concerts.
Traveled through USSR and abroad: to East-Germany, West-Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland. Gave a great performance during the Bolshoi tour to USA in 1975 in the roles of Lensky, Yurodiviy, The Marquis (“The Gambler”, Sergei Prokofiev), and Anatoliy Kuragin (“War and Peace”, Sergei Prokofiev). “The New York Post” review stated that a tenor like him would be an asset to any Opera Theater in the world and that in the role of Lensky he was immensely attractive – with his beautiful looks, great voice, an intricate interpretation of the role and his lyricism. “The New York Times” said that in the role of Lensky Korolev shows an attractive beautiful tenor voice which is used with expressiveness and emotionality. “Daily News” wrote that the high, beautiful, powerful lyric tenor of Korolev is ideal for the role of Lensky, and one would need to go back to the recordings of Ivan Kozlovskiy to find a comparable performance.
Laureate of International Radio Corporations Competition in Munich (1-st prize, 1966), International Competition of Appearing Musicians in Vienna (2-nd prize, 1967).
In 1986-2000 taught in Moscow conservatory.