AVassiliev CVe - Alexander Vassiliev

Alexander Vassiliev
Bass
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1971, Alexander Vassiliev studied singing (with Prof. Yevgeny
Nesterenko) and composition at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in Moscow, before joining the
Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. Thereafter, he was engaged at the opera
houses of Freiburg, Braunschweig and Cologne, where he sang Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s
Dream/Britten), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Don Basilio (Barbiere), Colline (La Bohème),
Méphistophélès (Faust/Gounod), The Waterspirit (Rusalka/Dvorak), Kaspar (Der Freischütz),
Figaro (Mozart), Ramfis (Aïda), and Camillo (German premiere of Boesman’s
„Wintermärchen“).
His future projects include The Old Servant in Rubinstein’s „Demon“ and Polkan in RimskyKorsakov’s „The Golden Cockerel“ at La Monnaie in Brussels, Parson/Badger in „The Cunning
Little Vixen“ in Glyndebourne and Fasolt in Halle. He is also invited to sing Placmajor in
Janacek’s „From the House of the Dead“ at the Royal Opera House in London and at La
Monnaie.
2014/2015 Vassiliev returned to La Monnaie to perform the Old Gypsy in Rachmaninoff’s
„Aleko“ and made his debut at the Teatro Colón as Bailli in „Werther“, with Anna-Caterina
Antonacci as Charlotte. He also sang Pan Golova in Tchaikovsky’s „Cherevichki“ at the Teatro
Lirico di Cagliari, Notar in the 50th anniversary production of „Der Rosenkavalier“ at the
National Opera in Amsterdam as well as Satan in the rarely performed oratorio „Les Béatitudes“
by C. Franck.
In the 2013/2014 season he made his debuts at the Royal Theatre de La Monnaie in Brussels in
Janacek’s „Jenufa“, and at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Gremin and Commendatore. He
returned to Halle as Fasolt, performed Shostakovitch’s 14th Symphony in Bournemouth, Verdi
Requiem with the Orchestra La Verdi in Milan and Dvorak’s „The Spectre’s Bride“ with
Bergische Symphoniker. He has also won the 1st Prize in the International Singing Competition
„Opera de Tenerife“ in September 2013.
2012/2013 Vassiliev made his debut as Gurnemanz (Parsifal) in Lübeck and as Yepantchin in the
world premiere of M. Weinberg’s „The Idiot“ in Mannheim, where he also sang Filippo II (Don
Carlo) and Ashby (La Fanciulla del West). He also returned to Amsterdam as Farfarello/Herault
in „The Love for the Three Oranges“, to the Düsseldorf Opera as der Einarmige and to Halle/
Ludwigshafen as Fasolt and sang King René/Ibn-Hakia in the prize-winning education project of
Tchaikovsky’s „Iolanta“ with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Apart from that he sang
Schoeck’s „Elegie“ with Bergische Symphoniker, Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony at the „Boswiler
Sommer“ festival in Switzerland and Mendelssohn’s „Paulus“ in the Herkulessaal in Munich.
Vassiliev’s other recent engagements include his debuts at Teatro alla Scala in Milan (Der
Einarmige/„Frau ohne Schatten“), at the Royal Opera House in London (Pan Golova/
„Cherevichki“/Tchaikovsky) as well as at the Opéra National de Paris (Bastille) and at the Teatro
Real in Madrid (Pope/„Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk“/Shostakovich). In the Esplanade Concert Hall
in Singapore he sang Méphistophélès („Damnation de Faust“/Berlioz) and in the Concertgebouw
Amsterdam he took part in the concert performances of Ravel’s „L’enfant et les sortilèges“,
Zemlinsky’s „Der König Kandaules“ and Schreker’s „Der ferne Klang“.
Apart from that Vassiliev has sung as a guest in St. Petersburg (Mariinsky Theatre), Paris
(Théâtre des Champs Elysées), Amsterdam, Rome, Bologna, Geneva, Nancy, Caen, Montpellier,
Düsseldorf (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Essen and many other theatres. He performed there such
roles as Leporello, Don Pasquale, Figaro and Don Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro), Forester,
Harasta, Priest and Badger (The Cunning Little Vixen), Sarastro, Sprecher and the 2nd Armed
Man (The Magic Flute), Biterolf , Colline, Placmajor (From the House of Dead), Sakristan/
Lunobor/Domsik (The Excursions of Mr Broucek/Janacek), Bluebeard (Bartok), Filippo II , Don
Pizarro (Fidelio), Oedipe (Enescu) or Yorloff (Ivan IV/Bizet).
Vassiliev has worked with famous stage directors such as Pierre Audi, Willy Decker, Andreas
Homoki, Martin Kusej, Robert Carsen, Francesca Zambello, Richard Jones and Claus Guth and
with renowned conductors, including Maris Janssons, James Conlon, Kazushi Ono, Armin
Jordan, Ivor Bolton, Jiri Belohlavek, Hartmut Haenchen and Marc Albrecht. Many of his opera
and concert performances were broadcast by numerous radio companies or appeared on CD/
DVD.
Vassiliev is also regularly engaged for concert work and has appeared with Helmut Rilling,
Enoch zu Guttenberg, Rolf Beck and Christoph Spering. He sang in works like Verdi's Requiem,
Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in c Minor, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and "Christus am
Oelberge", Bach’s St. Matthew and St John’s Passions, Janacek’s Glagolite Mass and
Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony in the concert halls and cathedrals of Paris, Strasbourg, Besançon,
Munich, Bremen, Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Stuttgart, Cologne, Frankfurt, Utrecht,
Amsterdam and Krakow. He sang numerous recitals in Geneva, Amsterdam, Bielefeld,
Remscheid, Freiburg, Citta di Castello, at Gidon Kremer’s festival in Lockenhaus, at Schloß
Elmau and at the Davos Festival.
Vassiliev was the co-founder and artistic director of the chamber music festival „Klassikfest
Kaiserstuhl“ in Ihringen from 2008 to 2010. His new CD with the complete songs by Rudi
Stephan (world premiere) was released in 2012 at MDG and received very positive reviews in the
international music press.