Boris Shtokolov

Boris Shtokolov ( _ru. Борис Тимофеевич Штоколов) (March 19, 1930 - January 6, 2005) was a famous Soviet and Russian singer, one of the greatest basses of the 20th century.

Boris Shtokolov was born in the city of Kuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast (USSR). In 1949 he entered the Ural State Conservatory in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) but wanted to became a military pilot. Georgy Zhukov having heard his singing said: "There are many guys like you in aviation, but in opera singing you are unique". In 1950-1951 he was singing at the Sverdlovsk Philarmonic Society before he became a soloist at the Sverdlovsk Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1959 he was invited to the Mariinsky Theatre in Leningrad where he gained world fame as a leading soloist from 1959 to 1989. At the Mariinsky Theater he created a great number of characters, such as Ruslan, Basilio, Boris Godunov, Ivan Susanin, the title role in Anton Rubinstein's "The Demon", Prince Gremin, Mefistofele, and many others.

Boris Shtokolov also was a prominent theorist of opera singing and respiration techniques. In 1995 he published a book "Burn, burn, my star: How to sing".

Honours

* People's Artist of the USSR (1966)
* State Prize of the USSR (1981)
* Order of Lenin
* Order of the October Revolution
* Order of the Red Banner of Labour (twice)
* Order of the Patriotic War (II degree)
* Honorary member of the Slavic Academy

Links

* A short biography in Russian: http://www.biograph.comstar.ru/bank/shtokolov.htm
* Extracts from Shtokolov's memoirs and works about him: http://www.solovki.ca/people_18/shtokolov.htm
* Article on Shtokolov in Saint Petersburg English Newspaper (in English): http://www.nevanews.com/index.php?id_article=18&section=5