Vasily Rodionovich Petrov (Vasily Petrov) |

Vasily Petrov

People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1933). In 1902 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the singing class of A. I. Bartsal. In 1902-37 he was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre. Petrov possessed a flexible, expressive voice with a wide range, combining the softness and beauty of sound with the power and coloratura technique rare for bass. Best roles: Susanin, Ruslan (Ivan Susanin, Ruslan and Lyudmila by Glinka), Dosifei (Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky), Melnik (Dargomyzhsky’s Mermaid), Mephistopheles (Gounod’s Faust). Performed as a concert singer. Toured abroad. In 1925-29 he was the vocal director of the Opera Theatre. Stanislavsky, in 1935-37 – the Opera Studio of the Bolshoi Theater. In the last years of his life, he conducted pedagogical work at the Musical College. Glazunov (Moscow).