Dmitri Hvorostovsky; “Boris’s Aria“; (Act II); BORIS GODUNOV; Modest Mussorgsky

This channel is the re-establishment of previous channels that have been sadly terminated. ================ Dmitri Hvorostovsky--baritone Constantine Orbelian--conductor Philharmonia of Russia 2007 ===================== “Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky (Russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Хворосто́вский, pronounced [xvərɐˈstofskʲɪj]; 16 October 1962 – 22 November 2017) was a Russian operatic baritone. Hvorostovsky was born in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia during a time when the city was mostly closed to foreigners. An only child, he was raised mostly by his grandmother and a grandfather who, according to Dmitri, was a war veteran suffering from alcoholism.[1] His father, an engineer, and his mother, a gynecologist, both had extremely time-consuming careers and were often only around on the weekends and holidays.[2] Career Hvorostovsky came to international prominence in 1989 when he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, beating local favourite Bryn Terfel in the final round. His performance included Handel’s “Ombra mai fu“ and “Per me Carlo ascolta“ from Verdi’s Don Carlos. His operatic debut in the West was at the Nice Opera in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades (1989). In Italy, he made his debut at La Fenice as Eugene Onegin, a success that sealed his reputation, and made his American operatic debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1993) in La traviata.[3] In 1992, he made his debut at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden as Riccardo in Bellini’s I puritani.[4] He subsequently sang at virtually every major opera house, including the Metropolitan Opera (debut 1995), the Berlin State Opera, La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of the title character in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; The New York Times described him as “born to play the role.“[5] In 2002, Hvorostovsky performed at the Russian Children’s Welfare Society’s major fund raiser, the “Petrushka Ball“. He was an Honorary Director of the charity.[6][7] A recital programme of new arrangements of songs from the World War II era, Where Are You My Brothers?, was given in the spring of 2003 in front of an audience of 6,000 at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, and seen on Russian Television by over 90 million viewers. The same programme was performed with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra for survivors of the Siege of Leningrad on 16 January 2004. In later years, Hvorostovsky’s stage repertoire almost entirely consisted of Verdi operas such as Un ballo in maschera, La traviata and Simon Boccanegra. In 2009 he appeared in Il trovatore in a David McVicar production at the Metropolitan Opera with Sondra Radvanovsky.[8] Awards and honours His highest awards in Russia include the Glinka State Prize in 1991 and the People’s Artist of Russia honorary title in 1995.[9] in 2011 he was one of the recipients of the Opera News award at the Plaza in New York City for distinguished achievement. Personal life In 1989, Hvorostovsky married a ballerina, Svetlana.[10] He adopted her daughter Maria, and they had two children, Daniel and Alexandra. They split up in 1999. His second wife was the Swiss soprano Florence Illi of French and Italian descent. They had two children, Nina and Maxim.[11] In June 2015, Hvorostovsky announced that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and cancelled all his performances through August. Family representatives said that he would be treated at London’s cancer hospital Royal Marsden. In spite of his illness, Hvorostovsky returned to the stage at the Metropolitan Opera in September as Count di Luna in Il trovatore for a run of three performances opposite Anna Netrebko.[12] He received strong reviews from both critics and audiences for his performance.[12][13] Death Hvorostovsky died on 22 November 2017 in London of brain cancer, which had been diagnosed over two years earlier.[14]“; Wikipedia