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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Sergey Yudin (1889) 






Born in Moscow. Lyrical tenor. Acclaimed Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialistic Republic (1933).
Born into a family of a clerk.
In 1900-1906 studied in Moscow High Technical College, after that studied in the College of Pictorial Art, Sculpture, and Architecture. At the same time (from the age of 17) took singing lessons with I.A.Alchevsky and A.M.Dodonov, then went to perfect his skills in Italy (1913).
In 1910 had an audition in the Bolshoi Theater.
In 1911-1914 and in 1919-1941 - soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, where his debut was in the part of Bayan (“Ruslan and Ludmila”, Glinka) in 1914-19 - Zimin Opera Theater (which in 1917 was renamed the Opera of Moscow Workers’ and Soldiers’ Soviet).
In 1914/1915 toured in the city of Kazan.
Had a voice of soft timbre, a perfectly honed vocal technique, high artistry. His voice was what is sometimes called double-timbred – in the higher register it was close to soprano, and in the lower register – close to baritone. Mastered falsetto.
In his repertoire were more than 30 roles. Amomg them: Lensky, King Berendey, Romeo, Fra-Diavolo, Bayan, Yurodiviy, Astrologer, Mozart, Nadir, Gerald.
Sang alongside such great singers as F.Chaliapin, V.Barsova, G.Baklanov, D.Golovin, K.Derzinskaya, I.Dygas, K.Zaporozec, E.Katulskaya, A.Nezdanova, N.Ozerov, G.Pirogov, L.Savranskiy,
In 1920-21 was a stage director for a group of young singers of the Bolshoi Theater. In 1930 - started teaching in amateur groups. In 1933-35 helped young singers of the Bolshoi in their work on “Il pagliaccio”, “Rigoletto”, “Mozart and Salieri”. In 1936-39 – a creative manager and teacher in the amateur group of the Moscow Club of Railway Workers. In 1941-44 was a director in a branch of the Bolshoi Theater, where he staged “La Boheme”, “Il barbiere di Siviglia”, “Rigoletto”, “Tosca”, “Dubrovskiy”. In 1943-49 he was a director and vocal instructor in Moscow City Opera Studio, where he staged “Eugene Onegin”, “Tsar’s Bride and “Rigoletto”. In 1948-63 – a teacher in Moscow Conservatory (from 1954 – professor)
Many of his pupils later became famous opera and chamber singers. Among them: N.Gutorovich, A.Mishevskiy, V.Petrov, G.Pischaev, V.Popov, V.Raicev, A.Sakulin, I.Skobcov, V.Timokhin, N.Timchenko, T.Yudina.
Authored a number of works and articles on vocal, a scenario for the opera “Proryv” (“Breaking Through”) by S.Potockiy. 
Died on July 5th 1963 in Moscow.