Exploring Artists: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

First published at South Florida Opera Scene on November 30, 2011, updated on October 7, 2012

 Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce you to the Exploring Artists series.  Each installment will feature a single opera singer, well-known or not, and will spotlight his or her career and works.  If you would like to see a specific singer featured, or if you are a singer yourself, and would like to be featured on Exploring Artists, please let me know!  Otherwise, you'll just have to sit tight while I work my way through some of my favorites, which is how I will start, anyway.

The obvious choice to inaugurate the Exploring Artists series is my current musical obsession, the great Siberian baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.  Although I've known his name since I was sixteen years old, his voice is a relatively new discovery for me.  I first heard of him on one of my many visits to a specialty music store in Eugene, Oregon, one of the few cities in the country able to support a store that sold opera almost exclusively.  Anyway, I went in that day to pick up one of the Domingo recordings (probably Il Trovatore or Tosca) that I had special ordered.  I glanced at the posters on the wall, as I always did, and there, between Placido Domingo and Yo Yo Ma, was this guy with this impossible name.  I seem to recall that his hair was already quite noticeably whitening, but that could be my memory playing tricks on me.  This was, after all, back in 1993 or 1994, and who can really accurately remember the details that far back?  Anyway, I couldn't tell from the poster if he was a singer, a pianist, a conductor, or something else, and I didn't really pay too much attention.  I was on a mission!  My new Domingo CD was waiting!
Over the years, I would see his name in various places, on Opera's Greatest CDs, on upcoming performance mailings, and I'd think back to that day at Musique Gourmet and wonder again exactly how to pronounce that "hv".  And yet, I never really heard him sing.  Then earlier this year, my son and I went to see Il Trovatore from the Met Live in HD.  It is my favorite opera, and Dolora Zajick was singing Azuchena, so I was really excited.  I didn't know who else was singing, and I didn't care.  I was expecting her to be the star of the show, as she always is in this role.  But as amazing as her performance was, the spotlight was stolen from her by a silver-haired, velvet-voiced baritone.  After almost twenty years, I had finally heard Dmitri Hvorostovsky.  And I was hooked from the moment the words "tace la notte" left his lips.  The notes he sang were so breathtakingly beautiful and powerful, and he played the role of di Luna with such passion that, for the first time in my life, I found myself sympathizing with the "evil" Count.



Well, I didn't sleep for many hours after that performance.  I was up half the night, watching YouTube videos of this amazing artist.  I saw him singing Rigoletto in concert, hunched over as he stood there on stage in his tux.  I saw him transform almost instantly from the grim hunchback to the delightfully humorous Figaro.  I saw him achieve the impossible feat of simultaneously singing both Don Giovanni and his servant, Leporello.  And I saw him singing all the Russian songs I grew up listening to.  And every performance was executed with such skill and beauty as to be virtually flawless!  I was completely in awe of his voice, which is like intense dark chocolate (72% or higher), melted into a rich, creamy fondue sauce and drizzled over fresh strawberries, and of his *ahem* shall we say, somewhat above average looks.  (My husband teases me mercilessly on that point, but he forgets that there's an incredible voice to go along with the pretty face!)    
So what's a (at the time) college girl who's sick of researching vascular diseases supposed to do at eleven o'clock on a work night?  More research, of course!  So I quickly set about learning everything I could about this glorious singer, and here's a bit of what I found. 
Dmitri Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, where he studied music from a young age.  After winning several national competitions, he entered the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 1989, where he famously beat Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in the almost legendary "battle of the baritones".  Choosing a single aria to post from that performance was very difficult, but ultimately I selected this because it so beautifully demonstrates his unbelievable breath control.



Anyway, his career exploded literally the next day.  He had recording contracts and bookings with the great opera houses and concert halls the world over.  Over the years, he has performed a wide range of roles, ranging from Tchaikovsky to Mozart to Verdi.  His portrayal of Rigoletto is at once fierce and tender, full of love for his daughter and hatered for everyone else.  He is the definitive Eugene Onegin, and once I saw him performing opposite Renee Fleming, no other baritone would do for the role.  The glimpses he has given us of his Iago, which I hope we will soon have the pleasure of witnessing in its entirety, are spine-chillingly evil.  And as I'm sure I mentioned before, his di Luna changed my whole perspective of Il Trovatore.
 

In addition to his fully-staged operatic performances, Mr. Hvorostovsky is a celebrated recitalist and concert performer.  Every year he travels the world, singing not only opera favorites, but also Neapolitan and Russian songs, and he has even collaborated with the popular Russian composer Igor Krutoy.  He will be returning to the stage of the Met next month, singing the role of Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera.  This highly anticipated production will be broadcast in movie theaters on December 8, with an encore showing on January 9.  This performance is not to be missed, so mark your calendars!
  

As I prepare to sign off for the night, it occurs to me that I have not even touched upon Mr. Hvorostovsky's breathtaking performances of the Russian operas.  However, since the hour is late and my current internet speed leaves much to be desired, that will have to wait for another time.  Good night, and happy listening!