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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Pavel Chekin (1912)






Born in the town of Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region. Acclaimed Artist of Russian Soviet Federative Socialistic Republic (1947).
Was an apprentice turner, and then a turner in the V.I.Lenin Zlatoust Instrument Factory. Was a loader, a miner and fish-industry worker. From 1929 on participated in amateur ensembles.
Graduated from the musical seminary of the Moscow conservatory, and in 1936 - from the Moscow Conservatory with honors. During his studies he worked as a small-role mass-scene actor in the Bolshoi Theater.
His debut was the role of Tamino in Mozart’s "Magic flute".
From 1936 on was singing in the St-Petersburg Malyi Opera Theater.
During World War II participated in the Central Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Navy. Only during the winter of 1941-42 he gave 220 concerts in army units and hospitals. Was awarded with medals. One of the most famous patriotic songs of the war was dedicated to him – “Bezkozyrka” (I.Zak, N.Verhovskiy).
In 1942-1958 – soloist of the Bolshoi Opera Theater, where he appeared in more than 25 leading roles. Among his roles: Lensky, Duke, Indian Guest, Jaquino (“Fidelio), Vladimir Igorevich, Alfred, Fenton, Enik (“The Bartered Bride”).
Gave solo concerts in the Far North, beyond the Polar Circle – for the participants of the “Northern Pole 4” expedition.
Taught in Russian Academy of Theater Arts.