Ilya Bannik was born in Nikolaev (Ukraine). He entered the Glinka Academic Capella Choral School in St Petersburg in 1980. Performed in the Capella Boys’ Choir. Between 1990 and 1995 he studied at the Herzen State Pedagogical University. In 1994 he entered the vocals faculty of the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (class of Professor Georgy Seleznev), from which he graduated in 1999.
Soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers from 1999.
Soloist with the Mariinsky Opera Company since 2009.
Roles performed at the Mariinsky Theatre include:
Svetozar, Farlaf (Ruslan and Lyudmila)
Konchak (Prince Igor)
Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin)
Grandfather Frost, Maslenitsa (The Snow Maiden)
Viking Merchant (Sadko)
Prince Yuri, Bedyai (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia)
Tsar Dodon (The Golden Cockerel)
Baron (The Miserly Knight)
Emperor of China, Chamberlain (Le Rossignol)
Oedipus, Creonte, Tiresias (Oedipus Rex)
Celio (The Love for three Oranges)
Faust (The Fiery Angel)
Young Lad (Semyon Kotko)
General Yermolov, Тikhon Shcherbaty, Marshal Berthier, Captain Ramballe, Barclay de Tolly, General Bennigsen (War and Peace)
Official in the Newspaper Dispatch Office (The Nose)
Steward, Policeman (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Lord Sidney, Baron Trombonok (Il viaggio a Reims)
Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor)
Bass (stage version of Verdi’s Requiem)
Il Conte Rodolfo (La sonnambula)
Samuel (Un ballo in maschera)
Filippo II, A Monk, The Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlo)
Ferrando (Il trovatore)
Sparafucile (Rigoletto)
Colline (La bohème)
Banco (Macbeth)
King of Egypt (Aida)
Bonze (Madama Butterfly)
Мéphistophélès (La Damnation de Faust)
Lindford, Luther (Les Contes d’Hoffmann)
Oracle of Neptune (Idomeneo, re di Creta)
Leporello (Don Giovanni)
Second Soldier (Salome)
Timur (Turandot)
Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila in concert)
Water-Sprite (Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák)
Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia in concert)
Don Quichotte (Don Quichotte)
Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte)
The singer’s concert repertoire includes the bass roles in Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Berlioz’ symphonie dramatique Roméo et Juliette, Bach’s Magnificat and Schubert’s Stabat Mater.
As a guest soloist, Ilya Bannik performs at the world’s finest opera houses. Roles performed at these theatres include: King René (Iolanta, Welsh National Opera; Royal Albert Hall, London), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte, Welsh National Opera), Timur (Turandot, Welsh National Opera), Donner (Das Rheingold, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia), Priest, Old Convict (Katerina Ismailova, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa), Nazarene (Salome, Оpéra Bastille, Paris), Voice of the Oracle (Idomeneo, Opéra de Paris) and Sparafucile (Rigoletto, Lille).
In 2005, he took part in new productions of War and Peace (Оpéra Bastille, Paris) and Iolanta (King René, Royal Albert Hall, London). Has taken part in the Italy’s Verdi Festival and the UK’s Glyndebourne Festival, appearing as Banco (Macbeth). He has also performed under such conductors as Valery Gergiev, Plácido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Justus Frantz and Carlo Rizzi. Has toured to the UK, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Finland, the USA and towns throughout Russia.
