Evgeny Igorevich Nikitin |
Evgeny Nikitin
Evgeny Nikitin was born in Murmansk. In 1997 he graduated from the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Bulat Minzhilkiev). In the late 90s, he became a laureate of the international competitions for opera singers named after N.K. Pechkovsky and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, as well as the competition named after P.I. Tchaikovsky in Moscow. While still a fourth-year student, Evgeny was invited to the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. Since then, the singer has been taking part in the most significant productions of the theater. He performed more than 30 opera parts, including the title roles in the operas Eugene Onegin, The Marriage of Figaro, The Demon, Prince Igor, Don Giovanni, Aleko. For his performance as Grigory Gryaznoy in The Tsar’s Bride, he was awarded the highest theatrical award of St. Petersburg “Golden Soffit” (in the nomination “Best Role in Musical Theatre”, 2005).
Wagner’s roles occupy a special place in the singer’s repertoire: The Dutchman (“The Flying Dutchman”), Wotan (“The Rhine Gold” and “Siegfried”), Amfortas and Klingsor (“Parsifal”), Gunther (“The Death of the Gods”), Fasolt (“Gold Rhine”), Heinrich Birders and Friedrich von Telramund (“Lohengrin”), Pogner (“Nuremberg Mastersingers”).
Wagner’s music is also dedicated to the singer’s first solo album, recorded in 2015 with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Christian Arming. It includes scenes from the operas Lohengrin, Tannhäuser, The Flying Dutchman and Valkyrie.
The skill and talent of the artist have been repeatedly noted by domestic and foreign critics. “Listening to the strong and at the same time rich voice of Yevgeny Nikitin, admiring his impeccable and free command of the entire sound range and admiring his heroic appearance, bewitching no less than his voice, it is impossible not to remember Chaliapin. Nikitin conveys a sense of power, combined with a wide palette of veiled compassion experienced by a great performer towards his character” (MatthewParis.com). “Nikitin turned out to be the most interesting singer, he brought warmth and amazing power to the harsh third act of “Siegfried” (New York Times).
Recently, the singer has performed a lot on the stages of the largest theaters in the world: the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Chatelet Theater in Paris, the Bavarian State Opera, the Vienna Opera. Among the most notable engagements is the main role in the opera The Prisoner by L. Dallapikkola at the Paris Opera and at the Mariinsky Theater (Russian premiere, 2015), participation in the new production of Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel at the Bavarian Opera (dir. Barry Koski), staged by Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Vienna Festival (dir. Dmitry Chernyakov), in concert performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (conductor Mark Elder). Last season, Evgeny Nikitin performed in a series of premieres of Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera, where he sang the part of Kurvenal directed by Mariusz Trelinski with Nina Stemme, Rene Pape, Ekaterina Gubanova; also performed the part of Iokanaan in the new production of the Mariinsky Theater “Salome”.
With the participation of Yevgeny Nikitin, Boris Godunov and Semyon Kotko were recorded at the Mariinsky Theater. On the recordings of the Mariinsky label, the singer’s voice sounds in Oedipus Rex (Creon), Semyon Kotko (Remenyuk), Rheingold Gold (Fazolt), Parsifal (Amfortas). Recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet were released with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman with the Musikers of the Louvre Orchestra and Mark Minkowski.
