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 the Krasnoyarsk Region of Russia. From 2007 to 2011 he studied in the vocal department of the Krasnoyarsk College for Arts where he studied with Galina Astanina. In 2017 graduated from St Petersburg State Conservatory.
Since 2016, he has been a member of the Opera Company of the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, since April 2023 – guest soloist.
Since April 2023 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Opera.
Vyacheslav Vasilyev has participated in the Primorsky Stage tour performances of The Tsar’s Bride opera at the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow, Mariinsky II in St Petersburg, and on the stage of the Buryat Opera and Ballet Theatre in Ulan-Ude.
He attended master classes given by Roberto Alagna, José van Dam, Jacques Lacombe, Adriano Sinivia (as part of the training project for young opera singers from Russia at L’Académie Lyrique de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo, 2017).
He also participated in the XXX Stars of the White Nights International Music Festival in St Petersburg in 2022, and in the I International Eurasian Festival of High Classics in Crimea in 2017.
In 2018 he made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, having performed the part of Giorgio Germont in La traviata. Later he also performed the parts of Eugene Onegin, Rodrigo (Don Carlo), Napoleon Bonaparte (War and Peace), and Malatesta (Don Pasquale).
Vyacheslav Vasilyev has appeared on the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Musical Theatre, and of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Baku.
The singer collaborates with such conductors and directors as Valery Gergiev, Shizuo Kuwahara, Mikhail Sinkevich, Pavel Smelkov, Feliks Korobov, Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, Aleksandr Titel, Alexei Stepanyuk, Yuri Laptev, Alexander Sladkovsky, Fabio Mastrangelo, Vladislav Karklin, Ayyub Guliyev, Ilya Ustyantsev, and others. He has performed together with Ildar Abdrazakov and Ekaterina Semenchuk.
Repertoire at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre:
Macbeth (Macbeth, G. Verdi);
Rodrigo (Don Carlo, G. Verdi);
Mazepa (Mazepa, P. Tchaikovsky);
Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin, P. Tchaikovsky);
Grigory Gryaznoy (The Tsar’s Bride, N. Rimsky-Korsakov);
Mizgir (The Snow Maiden, N. Rimsky-Korsakov);
Giorgio Germont, Baron Douphol (La Traviata, G. Verdi);
Sharpless (Madama Butterfly, G. Puccini);
Pantalone (The Love for Three Oranges, S. Prokofiev);
Silvio (Pagliacci, R. Leoncavallo);
Tomsky, Zlatogor, Prince Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades, P. Tchaikovsky);
Napoleon Bonaparte (War and Peace, S. Prokofiev);
Head of the Village (Christmas Eve, N. Rimsky-Korsakov);
Gavrila Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Idiot, A. Smelkov, concert performance);
Sacristan (Tosca, G. Puccini);
Moralès (Carmen, G. Bizet);
Falke (Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss II);
Amonasro (Aida, G. Verdi).
Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin, P. Tchaikovsky, chamber performance);
Napoleon Bonaparte (War and Peace, S. Prokofiev);
Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale, G. Donizetti);
Giorgio Germont (La Traviata, G. Verdi);
Rodrigo (Don Carlo, G. Verdi);
Monforte (I vespri siciliani, G. Verdi).
Repertoire also includes:
Shaklovity, Streshnev (Khovanshchina, M. Musorgsky);
Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov, M. Musorgsky);
Lord Henry Ashton (Lucia di Lammermoor, G. Donizetti);
Robert (Iolanta, P. Tchaikovsky);
An Unluckly Gambler (The Gambler, S. Prokofiev);
Marcel (La Bohème, G. Puccini);
Bonza (Madama Butterfly, G. Puccini);
Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades, P. Tchaikovsky);
Figaro (The Baber of Seville, G. Rossini);
Valentin (Faust, Ch. Gounod);
Escamillo (Carmen, Russian language version, G. Bizet);
Chartreuse and 2nd Masker (Betrothal in a Monastery, S. Prokofiev);
Mathias Wiessman (The Fiery Angel, S. Prokofiev, concert performance).
