The ease with which tenor Sergei Semishkur sang the role of Énée is something not every great performer can achieve.
Nezavisimaya gazeta
Tenor Sergei Semishkur, too, was impressive as Vakula the smith. A stately and well-proportioned fellow, he also looked good and delighted us with his voice: beautiful, and filled with true emotion.
Kultura
Graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1989. His repertoire includes one hundred and twenty-four roles, among them Finn (Ruslan and Lyudmila), Andrei Khovansky and Vasily Golitsyn (Khovanshchina), the Pretender, Shuisky and the Simpleton (Boris Godunov), Bobyl Bakula (The Snow Maiden), Don Jerome (Betrothal in a Monastery), Platon Karatayev (War and Peace), Fyodor Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov), Loge (as Rheingold), Mime (Das Rheingold and Siegfried), Herodes (Salome), Count Hauk-Šendorf (Věc Makropulos), Grishka Kuterma (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), the Marquis (The Gambler) and a large number of chamber works by various composers.
Nikolai Gassiev has performed with the Mariinsky Opera Company at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), the Staatsoper in Hamburg and the Edinburgh Festival in addition to tours to Spain, Finland, Israel, Italy, the USA, France, Japan, Belgium, Austria, Korea, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Turkey and the Great Britain.
Since 1997 Nikolai Gassiev has performed as a guest soloist at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), La Scala (Milan), the Los Angeles Opera, the Opéra Bastille and San Francisco Opera.
The singer has featured in recordings of the operas Betrothal in a Monastery, The Gambler, The Tsar’s Bride, The Maid of Pskov and Khovanshchina (Philips Classics).
