The voice of baritone Vyacheslav Vasiliev as Grigory Gryaznoy and his performance of “I cannot get the beauty out of my mind” immediately aroused admiration with the audience and brought down the house. Hopelessly in love with Marfa, Gryaznoy is up to anything with his power and cheek.
Moscultura
The opera was performed on the stage of Zaryadye Concert Hall. The baton was held by Valery Gergiev. Among the primary men’s voices there was baritone Vyacheslav Vasiliev who sang the role of Gryaznoy and made a deep impression, having demonstrated his wide range of voice and good lungs. The performance of this opera drew a storm of applause.
Classical Music News
For me, the role of Mazepa sung by Vyacheslav Vasilyev was the singer’s unveiling in this performance. He represented the frantic Hetman who archly styled himself an old man but was not the same, who had fiery eyes and Napoleon’s plans, who was a shifty wild fox with a restless soul and a power-seeker able to experience both strong sensations and feelings of remorse. Vasilyev was so strait in this role, which allowed him to reveal his dramatic talent. What a voice! His thick, bright and strong high notes literally gave the creeps. That evening Vasilyev’s voice sounded perfectly, giving the audience all tints of the Hetman’s ambiguous spirit. Vasilyev was a lyric hero in the scenes with Maria or a heartless ruler or an ambitious person dreaming of the royal throne or an escapee at a crossroads. Vasilyev managed to convey all those tints to the audience. Bravo!
Tatiana Pavlova, Das osteuropäische Opernmagazin, October 20, 2022
Vyacheslav Vasilyev was born in 1989 in Krasnoyarsk Krai (Krasnoyarsk Region). Graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory (class of Nadezhda Drozdova-Weiner) in 2017.
Was a soloist of the Opera Company at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre from 2016 to 2023. Since April 2023 he has been a soloist with St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Opera Company and a guest soloist at the Primorsky Stage.
In 2017 Vasilyev participated in the 1st International Eurasian Festival of High Classics in Crimea, and then in the project Academy of Young Opera Singers from Russia at the Monte Carlo Opera, where he took masterclasses from singers Roberto Alagna and José van Dam, conductor Jacques Lacombe, director and choreographer Adriano Sinivia and many others.
In 2018 the artist made his debut at St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, appearing as Giorgio Germont in La traviata.
In May 2019 he participated in guest performances of The Tsar’s Bride (directed by Vyacheslav Starodubtsev) at the Moscow Concert Hall Zaryadye and Mariinsky-2, portraying Grigory Gryaznoy under the baton of Valery Gergiev. In November 2019, as part of the Primorsky Stage Company, Vasilyev sang at the Buryat State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ulan-Ude, appearing as Lord Henry Ashton (in a concert performance of Lucia di Lammermoor) and Grigory Gryaznoy.
In July 2021 he made his debut at the Moscow State Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre, portraying Count Tomsky in The Queen of Spades.
In October 2022 the singer performed the role of Count di Luna in Il trovatore for the first time at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (Baku). In March 2023 he portrayed Macbeth at the Moscow State Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre and appeared at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
Repertoire at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre:
Andrey Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov)
Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin)
Mazepa (Mazepa)
Count Tomsky, Prince Yeletsky and Zlatogor (The Queen of Spades)
Golova (Christmas Eve)
Grigory Gryaznoy (The Tsar’s Bride)
Mizgir (The Snow Maiden)
Pantalone (The Love for Three Oranges)
Napoleon (War and Peace)
Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Smelkov’s The Idiot, concert performance)
Macbeth (Macbeth)
Giorgio Germont and Baron Douphol (La traviata)
Rodrigo (Don Carlo)
Amonasro (Aida)
Silvio (Pagliacci)
Sacristan (Tosca)
Sharpless (Madama Butterfly)
Dr Falke (Die Fledermaus)
Moralès (Carmen)
Repertoire at St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre:
Andrey Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov; production of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia)
Shaklovity (Khovanshchina)
Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin)
Mazepa (Mazepa)
Robert (Iolanta)
Prince Ivan-Korolevich (Kashchey the Immortal)
Mizgir (The Snow Maiden)
A Venetian Merchant (Sadko)
Napoleon (War and Peace)
Nabucco (Nabucco)
Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale)
Giorgio Germont (La traviata)
Amonasro (Aida)
Monforte (I vespri siciliani)
Rodrigo (Don Carlo)
Sharpless (Madama Butterfly)
Sir Richard Forth (I puritani, chamber version)
His repertoire also includes: the title roles in Don Giovanni and Aleko, Streshnev (Khovanshchina), Escamillo (Carmen), Figaro (Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia), Valentin (Gounod’s Faust), an Unlucky Gambler (The Gambler), Marcello (La bohème), Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Brother Chartreuse and Second Mask (Betrothal in a Monastery), Matvey Wissmann (The Fiery Angel).
