Dmitry Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky

Born on October 16, 1962 in Krasnoyarsk. His parents worked hard, and the boy was raised mainly by his grandmother. Even in early childhood, he became interested in classical music: the family kept a whole collection of albums with recordings of operas, and his father sang and accompanied himself on the piano. Already at the age of four, Dmitry Hvorostovsky began to sing for the first time.

Soon he began to learn to play the piano. His father saw the boy as a future pianist, at first he studied with him at home himself, and then sent him to a music school. Hvorostovsky began singing in the choir, but at the age of 11, when his voice began to break, he had to leave classes. At the age of 14, he graduated from music school and organized a rock band with friends, where he performed solo and played keyboards. This came as a shock to the father, who had predicted his son's career as a classical musician.

At the age of three, I started playing music with my father, and we performed romances, songs, and even opera arias. That's why I had almost no dilemma about who to become. The only thing I wanted was to get away from it all. Mom called me "the boy in reverse." I was trying to do something else. To the horror of my parents, at a young age I began to study pop and rock music. <...>Of course, there were other hobbies: sports, football. I've been bullying a lot too.

From Dmitry Hvorostovsky's interview with Svyatoslav Belza.

In 1978, Dmitry Hvorostovsky graduated from secondary school. His father insisted that his son continue to study music. Therefore, the young man entered the music department of the Krasnoyarsk Pedagogical College named after Alexei Gorky, and after him — the conducting and choral department of the Krasnoyarsk State Institute of Arts. Here Hvorostovsky joined the class of Professor Ekaterina Iofel. It was she who revealed his baritone voice — before that, the artist sang mainly tenor parts. Jophel also taught him how to control his voice and keep long phrases in one breath. Listening to classical recordings, Hvorostovsky independently studied the Italian technique of smooth and relaxed performance — bel canto.

Dmitry Hvorostovsky started his professional career early. As a student, he was invited to the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theater. Here he performed as a soloist in almost all major plays: "The Queen of Spades", "Eugene Onegin", "La Traviata", "Faust", "Pagliacci". In 1987, Hvorostovsky won the most prestigious performance competition in the USSR, the Mikhail Glinka All—Union Vocal Competition. During this period, the singer began to tour the country a lot.

In 1988, Dmitry Hvorostovsky traveled abroad for the first time, to France. Here he made his debut on the European stage: the artist performed the role of Yeletsky from "The Queen of Spades" at the Nice Opera House. In the same year, he received the Grand Prix of the International Singing Competition in Toulouse, and the following year he won the title of "Best Singer in the World" in the popular vocal competition of the British BBC television channel "Cardiff Voices". A journalist from British digital radio Classic FM later noted that the final of the competition was "a titanic battle between two baritones: Bryn Terfel and Dmitry Hvorostovsky." And in the Guardian newspaper they wrote about the victory of the Russian artist.: "I came, I sang, I won." Participation in international competitions brought Hvorostovsky worldwide fame. He was invited to the best theaters in France, Italy, and Austria. In front of a foreign audience, the artist performed with the main opera roles: Figaro from "The Barber of Seville", Germont from "La Traviata", the Count from "The Wedding of Figaro". A critic of the American newspaper New York Times wrote that Hvorostovsky was born to play this character.

Hvorostovsky's fame allowed him to perform not only popular opera arias, but also a forgotten, little-known Russian repertoire. He sang romances and folk songs on European stages. Among them are "I met you", "No, I don't love you so much", "I loved you ...", "Black eyes", "Lady", "Oh, you darling". Dmitry Hvorostovsky also experimented with other genres: he sang Baroque arias by Antonio Vivaldi, cantatas by Gustav Mahler and oratorios by Georgy Sviridov.

In 2004, Dmitry Hvorostovsky performed a charity concert on Red Square in Moscow — before him, no opera singer had ever performed arias at this venue. The artist's repertoire was constantly replenished with new works. In 2005, he turned to patriotic compositions. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, he performed wartime songs at the State Kremlin Palace. Hvorostovsky later toured the country with this program. Then came the solo concert "To Russia with Love", in which military songs complemented the works of Russian composers. He was accompanied by a chamber orchestra conducted by Konstantin Orbelian. In 2006 Dmitry Hvorostovsky organized a series of concerts "Hvorostovsky and friends". The artist invited his colleagues to them, with whom he performed on the best opera stages, but whose names are little known to the Russian public. At the first concert, Hvorostovsky sang a duet with American Renee Fleming. Two years later, the singer invited Korean Sumi Cho. Over the years, German Jonas Kaufman, Italian Marcello Giordani, and American Charles Castronovo participated in concerts. In 2013, Dmitry Hvorostovsky brought together several opera stars on one stage at once: Barbara Frittoli, Ramon Vargas, Askar and Ildar Abdrazakov. The performer timed the performance to coincide with his 50th birthday.

On November 22, 2017, Dmitry Hvorostovsky died after a long illness. The singer's ashes were buried, according to his will, in Moscow and Krasnoyarsk. In 2018, the jury of the International Professional Music Award Bravo posthumously awarded Hvorostovsky the award "Best Classical Album of the Year".