About Mr. Svetlov
Bass Mikhail Svetlov’s international career began at Wexford Festival Opera, since which time he has performed at many leading houses worldwide.
Known for the unique range, beauty, and penetrating dark timbre of his voice, as well as his outstanding acting ability, Mr.Svetlov’s early career saw him work as a company principal at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, where his roles included the title role in Boris Godunov, Gremin Eugene Onegin, Mephistopheles Faust, Zaccaria Nabucco, Ferrando Il Trovatore, Sobakin The Tsar’s Bride, Dodon Le coq d’Or, Dosifey Khovanshchina, King René Iolanta, Mendoza Betrothal in a Monastery, Galitsky Prince Igor, Archibaldo L’amore Dei Tre Re for Opera Holland Park, Fiesco Simon Boccanegrawith Kentucky Opera, Grand Inquisitor Don Carlo for the Caramoor Festival, Zaccaria in Festshpiele Bregenz, Boris Godunov, and Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Chaliapin Opera Festival, Russia, and Stravinsky’s Le Noces with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, Rome.
Previous seasons highlights include Zaccaria Nabucco (Arena di Verona; Teatro Carlo Felice Genova); Varlaam Boris Godunov, and roles in the Nose and Prince Igor(Metropolitan Opera, New York); the title role in Verdi’s Attila, Banquo Macbeth, Lorenz in the U.S première of Mathis der Maler, Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia, Colline in La bohème and Commendotore Don Giovanni (New York City Opera); Mephistopheles Faust (Houston Grand Opera; Opera de Bellas Artes, Mexico; Palm Beach Opera; New Zealand Opera); Grand Inquisitor Don Carlo (Deutsche Oper Berlin; Bayerische Staasoper); Sparafucile Rigoletto (Hamburg Staatsoper; Opéra de Montréal); Ferrando Il Trovatore (Salzburg Festspiele);
Zaccaria Nabucco(Bregenz Festspiele), Archibaldo L’amore dei tre Re, King René Iolanta, Padre Guardiano La forza del destino,Il Cieco Iris (Opera Holland Park); Timur Turandot , Gremin Eugene Onegin, and Filippo Don Carlo (Arizona Opera); Sparafucile Rigoletto, Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Dikoy Kátya Kabanová (Opéra de Montréal), the title role and Varlaam Boris Godunov, Gremin Eugene Onegin, and Dikoy Kátya Kabanová, Gremin Eugene Onegin, Osmin Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Florida Grand Opera), Sir Giorgio I puritani, Ferrando Il Trovatore (Baltimore Lyric Opera); Fafner Das Rheingold, Ramfis Aida, Walter Luisa Miller, BanquoMacbeth, Dulcamara L’elisir D’amore, Osmin Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Opera de Bellas Artes, Mexico); Bluebeard Bluebeard’s Castle (Opéra de Québec); Varlaam Boris Godunov, and Abimelech Samson et Dalila (San Diego Opera) and also at Teatro Alla Scala; Santa Fe Opera; Teatro Colon, Covent Garden.
Mr Svetlov is well known for his interpretation of Verdi’s Messe de Requiem having performed at leading venues internationally in London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Montreal, and throughout the USA. Further performance on the concert platform have seen him sing with Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Orchestra, State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Paukenmesse, Mozart Requiem and a Shostakovich program with Houston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Shostakovich Symphonies No’s. 13 & 14 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 at the Barbican Hall, London, with Maestro Rostropovich and the London Symphony Orchestra, and also at the Royal Albert Hall, Gstaad Festival, Switzerland, and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Svetlov’s discography includes the world première of Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight and Serov’sJudith (Le Chant du Monde), for which he received a Telerama Award; Shostakovich’s The Gamblers (Delta Music; and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery (BMG Classics), Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony on (Virgin Classics), and was Grammy nominated for his recording of Stravinsky’sHistoire du Soldat (Koch International Classics).
