The audience discovered the secret of Akimov’s total charm as an actor: the light, fresh, inimitably clear timbre of the voice, the courage of a soloist who is aware of his tremendous abilities and the natural talent. And the ecstasy of art through happiness that is gradually growing into mastery. And the ability to convey to everyone sitting in the hall this joy of artistic self-giving.
Teatralny Peterburg
Yevgeny Akimov graduated from the vocals faculty of the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Lev Morozov).
Soloist with the Zazerkalye Children’s Music Theatre from 1991 to 1996.
Yevgeny Akimov joined the Mariinsky Opera Company in 1996.
Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Bayan (Ruslan and Lyudmila)
Simpleton, Pretender, Shuisky (Boris Godunov)
Prince Andrei Khovansky, Prince Vasily Golitsyn (Khovanshchina)
Gritsko (The Fair at Sorochintsy)
Vladimir Igorevich (Prince Igor)
Sinodal (The Demon)
Berendey (The Snow Maiden)
Indian Merchant (Sadko)
Deacon (Christmas Eve)
Ivan Lykov (The Tsar’s Bride)
Lensky (Eugene Onegin)
Andrei (Mazepa)
Count Vaudemont (Iolanta)
Dante (Francesca da Rimini)
Young Gypsy (Aleko)
Fisherman (Le Rossignol)
Mikola (Semyon Kotko)
Méphistophélès (The Fiery Angel)
Pierre Bezukhov (War and Peace)
Don Antonio (Betrothal in a Monastery)
Zinovy Borisovich (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)
Flogged Monk, Prince, Magnetiser, Old Man in the Woods, Storyteller (The Enchanted Wanderer)
Idomeneo (Idomeneo, rè di Creta)
Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni)
Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor)
Helmsman (Der Fliegende Holländer)
Froh (Das Rheingold)
Foresto (Attila)
Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto)
Alfredo (La traviata)
Tenor (stage version of Verdi's Requiem)
Gabriel von Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus)
Don Jose (Carmen)
Cassio (Otello)
Fenton (Falstaff)
Rodolfo (La bohème)
Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly)
Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana)
Narraboth (Salome)
Vision of a Boy (Die Frau ohne Schatten)
The singer’s concert repertoire includes the tenor roles in Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s vocal-symphonic poem the Bells.
Yevgeny Akimov has taken part in co-productions of the Mariinsky Theatre and the San Francisco Opera (Betrothal in a Monastery) and La Scala (Boris Godunov); he has also sung at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), the Opéra de Paris, the Teatro Regio (Turin) and the National Grand Theatre of China (Beijing).
Yevgeny Akimov has worked with many outstanding musicians of the present day. These include singers Giuseppe Giacomini, Plácido Domingo and Ferruccio Furlanetto, and conductors Lorin Maazel (The Enchanted Wanderer, Avery Fisher Hall, 2002), Mstislav Rostropovich (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, 2002) Esa-Pekka Salonen (Boris Godunov, Hollywood Bowl, 2007). Jukka-Pekka Saraste (Rachmaninoff’s the Bells, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 2009), Gianandrea Noseda (Le Rossignol, Betrothal in a Monastery, Don Giovanni, Francesca da Rimini, Aleko, Teatro Regio, Turin) and Semyon Bychkov (Boris Godunov, Florence, 2006; the Bells, Cologne, 2008) to name but a few.
Yevgeny Akimov’s discography includes CD recordings of the operas Boris Godunov, Betrothal in a Monastery, the Tsar’s Bride, the Love for Three Oranges, Semyon Kotko, Francesca da Rimini, Aleko and Rachmaninoff’s vocal-symphonic poem the Bells as well as DVD recordings of Betrothal in a Monastery, Prince Igor and Rachmaninoff’s the Bells.
In 2009 Yevgeny Akimov was awarded two medals by the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation for his performance in the opera Francesc da Rimini and the poem the Bells.
