Background

Hvorostovsky was born on October 16, 1962, in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia during a time when the city was mostly closed to foreigners. His father, an engineer, and his mother, a gynecologist, both had extremely time-consuming careers and were often only around on the weekends and holidays, so Dmitri was raised by his grandparents.

Education

Dmitri Hvorostovsky attended the Krasnoyarsk School of Arts. From the age of seven, he spent six days a week at a specialist school where he sang, played piano, and studied conducting, harmony and music history. By the time he left at 14, he hated music. "I was very badly taught, by a teacher who convinced me I was no good. When someone is slapping your hands every day, telling you you're rubbish and your work is all wrong - when this goes on for seven years you end up believing them." - said Dmitri. Meanwhile, his voice had broken: early, at 12. "My father made me stay silent for two years. He said if I ever wanted to sing, I must not damage my voice by singing now. He took me to see a movie about a boy who sang in his adolescence, and ruined his voice. That really scared me."

Career

From the start, audiences were bowled over by cultivated voice, innate sense of musical line and natural legato of Dmitri Hvorostovsky. His career has taken him to all the world’s major opera houses and renowned international festivals, including Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Salzburg Festival, La Scala Milan, Vienna State Opera, and Chicago Lyric Opera.

A celebrated recitalist in demand in every corner of the globe - from the Far East to the Middle East, from Australia to South America - Dmitry Hvorostovsky appeared at such venues as Wigmore Hall, London; Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh; Carnegie Hall, New York; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, Moscow; Liceu, Barcelona; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; and Musikverein, Vienna. The singer regularly performed in concert with top orchestras like the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and conductors, including James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Termikanov and Valery Gergiev.

Dmitry Hvorostovsky retained a strong musical and personal contact with Russia. He became the first opera singer to give a solo concert with orchestra and chorus on Red Square in Moscow; this concert was televised in over 25 countries. He went on to sing a number of prestigious concerts in Moscow as a part of his own special series, ‘Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Friends’. He invited such celebrated artists as Renée Fleming, Sumi Jo, and Sondra Radvonosky. In 2005 he gave a historic tour throughout the cities of Russia at the invitation of President Putin, singing to crowds of hundreds of thousands of people to commemorate the soldiers of the Second World War. He toured the cities of Russia and Eastern Europe on an annual basis. In 2002, he performed at the Russian Children's Welfare Society's major fund raiser, the "Petroushka Ball". He was an Honorary Director of the charity. He later established a new collaboration with the Russian popular composer Igor Krutoi, with very successful concerts in Moscow, St Petersburg, and Kiev.

In later years his stage repertoire had almost entirely consisted of Verdi operas such as Un ballo in maschera, La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra; he also appeared in Rigoletto and Il Trovatore in a David McVicar production at The Met with Sondra Radvanovsky. Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s extensive discography spans recitals and complete operas. He also starred in Don Giovanni Unmasked, an award-winning film (by Rhombus Media) based on W.A. Mozart's opera, tackling the dual roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello. Recent releases included a DVD starring Dmitri alongside Renée Fleming in a film set in St Petersburg and two new solo CD’s; Tchaikovsky Songs and Songs on texts by Pushkin.

Achievements

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  Dmitri Hvorostovsky was especially renowned for his portrayal of the title character in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; The New York Times described him as "born to play the role." He also won the First Prize at both the Russian Glinka Competition in 1987 and the Toulouse Singing Competition in 1988. He came to international prominence in 1989 when he won the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, beating local favorite Bryn Terfel in the final round. His performance included George Frideric Handel's "Ombra mai fu" and "Per me giunto...O Carlo ascolta" from Verdi's Don Carlo. His highest awards in Russia include the Glinka State Prize in 1991 and the People's Artist of Russia honorary title in 1995.
  
  Dmitry Hvorostovsky was cast in People magazine's 50 most beautiful people, a rare occurrence for a classical musician.

Works

More photos

• music

  • Bellini: I Puritani / Act 1 1994
  • Faust, Act I: Avant de quitter ces lieux 2005
  • Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana / Leoncavallo 2003
  • Mascagni - Cavalleria rusticana 1990
  • Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings of War, Peace, Love and Sorrow 2002
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar's Bride - Act I 1998
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar's Bride - Act III 1998
  • Rimsky-Korsakov: The Tsar's Bride - Act IV 1998
  • Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin 1992
  • Tchaikovsky: Pique Dame 1992
  • Un ballo in maschera: Act I
  • Verdi: Don Carlo 1996
  • Ernani, Act III
  • Rigoletto 2016
  • Verdi: Simon Boccanegra 2015
  • Verdi: La Traviata 2013
  • Verdi: Il Trovatore 2012
  • I Met You, My Love by Dmitri Hvorostovsky 2002
  • Where Are You My Brother? 2003
  • Credo Heiliges Russland: Russian Orthodox Choral & Liturgical Songs
  • Dejavu / Deja Vu

Religion

When he was asked if he is religious, Dmitri Hvorostovsky answered: "Not really. Well, after my own fashion. I don't like this affectation Russians now put on, about being religious again. But I've got my own god, and obviously we are getting along fine together!" Just so long as he keeps on winning."

Views

Quotations: "I can't afford to sing much of the Russian repertory except Tchaikovsky. Eugene Onegin is a good role for me."

"I wasn't very sociable as a child and I still had that mask when I came to the West. I couldn't understand English and felt I had to protect myself. The record company kept telling me to smile, but I found it difficult."

Personality

In his early years, Dmitri Hvorostovsky was going to become an athlete: "I was quite wild, did a lot of sport, got into enough fights to become a professional boxer, but instead became a pop singer."

Dmitri Hvorostovsky spoke a very good, idiomatic English with a seductive Siberian lilt. Dima, as Hvorostovsky was known to his colleagues, was beloved for his playful, sometimes mischievous, spontaneity and unpredictability.

Physical Characteristics: Dmitri Hvorostovsky was a tall man with a striking head of prematurely silver hair. His high, medium-weight voice had the typical liquid timbre of Russian baritones.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Though famous for his velvety lyric baritone and an unusually broad repertoire that encompasses Neapolitan folk songs and liturgical music Hvorostovsky is also opera’s reigning – and perhaps its one and only – hunk." - W Magazine
  
  "He is sending aficionados the world over into a collective swoon." - Vanity Fair

Interests

• Music & Bands

  Olga Borodina

Connections

In 1989 Hvorostovsky married a ballerina, Svetlana. He adopted her daughter Maria, and they had two children, Daniel and Alexandra. They split up in 1999. His second wife was the Swiss soprano Florence Illi. They had two children, Nina and Maxim.

ex-wife:

Svetlana Hvorostovskaya

Wife:

Florence Illi

step-daughter:

Maria Hvorostovskaya

Son:

Daniel Hvorostovsky

Daughter:

Alexandra Hvorostovskaya

Daughter:

Nina Hvorostovskaya

Son:

Maxim Hvorostovsky

tutor:

Yekaterina Yofel

References

• Personal website