Vassily Savenko

Specialism:

bass-baritone

Location:

Malvern
United Kingdom WR14

Additional Info:

Ukrainian-born Vassily Savenko completed his vocal studies at the Moscow Conservatory under Alexei Bolshakov. He won both the Mussorgsky and Lysenko Competitions and has sung principal roles for major opera houses in his native Ukraine and in Russia, including the Bolshoi Opera Moscow, and Kirov Opera, St Petersburg where he sang Iago (Otello) under Gergiev.
Based in the UK, Vassily Savenko made his operatic debut in a Rachmaninov double-bill in the dual roles of Baron “Miserly Knight” and Lanciotto Malatesta “Francesca da Rimini”.
Other roles in Western Europe include: Prince Nikita - “Enchantress” (GPO); Ebbn-Hakia & René - “Iolanta”; Tomsky -“Queen of Spades” (Opera Ireland); Mazepa - “Mazepa”; Prince Gremin - “Eugene Onegin” (WNO); Prince Zhemchuzhny - “Oprichnik” (Cagliari, Italy) in operas by Tchaikovsky; Ivan Susanin - M.Glinka “ A Life for the Tsar” (COG ); Sobakin (cover) Rimsky-Korsakov “Tsar’s Bride” (ROH); Baldassare - F. Cilea “L’Arlesiana” (OHP); Ferrando - Verdi “ Il Trovatore”, Bonzo - Puccini “Madame Butterfly” (WNO); Commendatore Mozart “Don Giovanni” (GPO & Klagenfurt); under conductors including: Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Alexander Lazarev, Alexander Anissimov, Nikolai Alexeev, Alberto Hold-Garrido, Alexander Polianichko, Mark Elder, David Lloyd-Jones, Felix Krieger and Rumon Gamba...
Under Maestro Emmanuel Villaume he sang Ebbn-Hakia & René on the European tour of “Iolanta” with Anna Netrebko and was subsequently invited to repeat Ebbn-Hakia for Santa Cecilia Rome under Maestro Antonio Pappano.
Concert work with orchestras: operatic scenes/arias and song cycles include Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death” in Sweden, and Shostakovich’s 10 Songs of the Fool (from King Lear) with the BBC’s Symphony Orchestra. He is due to perform in Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death for Cambridge Philharmonic in May 2020.

Recognized as a leading interpreter of Russian Art Song, Vassily Savenko’s extensive discography includes recordings for Hyperion, Meridian, Toccata Classics, Mirare ( France ), and in opera recording for Dynamic ( Italy ) in Tchaikovsky’s Oprichnik .
In August 2018 Vassily Savenko performed the role of King “Aida” at Teatro Greco Taormina, Sicily for Mythos International Opera Festival – a critic commented: “Very good & powerful voice” - Vassily Savenko in the role of the King”

"This is a voice of finely woven texture, enriched throughout by reserves of depth in the tone".
John Steane Opera Now

“Vassily Savenko supplies authentic Kirov style as Nikita” Hugh Canning The Sunday Times

"Rachmaninov conceived central roles in both operas for his friend, the Russian bass Chaliapin - Vassily Savenko was an excellent choice, tortured and vengeful as Lanciotto Malatesta in Francesca, mean and mad-eyed as the Baron in The Miserly Knight, but keeping the histrionics in check” Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph

Specialisms

Solo Performance, Opera

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