Arnold Azrikan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Arnold Grigorevich Azrikan (Russian: Арнольд Григорьевич Азрикан; Ukrainian: Арнольд Григорович Азрікан; February 23, 1906 – July 19, 1976) was a Soviet operatic dramatic tenor.

Arnold Azrikan (1906-1976). Russian and Ukrainian opera singer

Biography and career

He began to sing at the age of twelve in a chorus of the city church in

Odessa Opera Theater in 1926, and in 1928 he made his debut there as Nathanael in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.[2]

In 1930, he was invited to the opera theater in Kharkov (the capital of Ukraine at that time) where he sang in the Ukrainian, Russian and Italian repertoires. In 1934 both the capital and the opera's leading soloists, including Azrikan, moved to Kyiv.

In 1939, Azrikan first sang the title role in

Baku Opera and Ballet Theatre. He retired from stage in 1964 during his engagement with the Moldova Opera Theatre but returned to the same theater for his farewell performance in Otello in 1968. He taught singing at the Chișinău Conservatory.[6]

Azrikan was also the stage director of several opera productions in which he also sang the leading roles. After his retirement from stage, he taught singing at the Chișinău Conservatory. He died in 1976 in Moscow.[7]

Repertoire

Russian tenor Arnold Azrikan in Verdi's Otello. Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg) State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater
Arnold Azrikan as Herman in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades

Stage director

  • Otello by Verdi (Kuibyshev Opera and Ballet Theater, 1950; Saratov Opera and Ballet Theater, 1951; Baku Opera and Ballet Theater, 1952; Chisinau Opera and Ballet Theater, 1964)
  • Iolanta by Tchaikovsky (Baku Opera and Ballet Theater, 1953)
  • Manon Lescaut by Puccini (Baku Opera and Ballet Theater, 1956)

Discography

Two Ukrainian romances - Arnold Azrikan - Gramplast, No.5230/5232, 1937.

Awards

  • Deserved Artist of the Ukraine
    , 1940
  • Stalin Prize, 1946 (renamed as the USSR State Prize in 1954)

References

Sources

English

Russian

Ukrainian

Czech

Romanian

External links