Dmitry Hvorostovsky: “The Happiest Man in the World”

The “golden baritone,” Dmitry Hvorostovsky, celebrates his 50th birthday on October 16. One of the most popular opera singers, he performs in concerts all over the world and lives, as he admits himself, “from mountaintop to mountaintop.”

Born in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Dmitry Hvorostovsky owes his love for classical music to his father, Alexander, a chemical engineer and an admirer of music. His special favorites were Ettore Bastianini, Enrico Caruso, Tito Gobbi, Fedor Shalyapin, Maria Callas and Mario Lanza, whose recordings Dmitry could often hear in their house.

The leading singer of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theater, Dmitry Hvorostovsky made his first breakthrough to world fame in 1989 when he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

A year later, the New York Daily News wrote that the last of the popular Russian baritones “has a golden voice.”

The singer has engagements with the world’s best opera houses.

Giuseppe Verdi is one of Hvorostovsky’s favorite composers. He sang Rodrigo di Posa (Don Carlos), Germont (La traviata), Rigoletto, Iago (Othello), Don Carlos (Hernani).

Every minute of Hvorostovsky’s schedule is booked for performances, concert tours, and cultural events.

“You live from one point to another. From mountaintop to mountaintop: you know you must conquer this mountain, then the next, and then you know you won’t be ashamed to die. That’s the kind of life we have. Me, at any rate. It’s the highest trajectory, a trajectory to space, you might say.”

The singer has not forgotten about Russia and makes a point of visiting the provinces rather than just the two capital cities.

His repertoire includes a huge number of Russian folk and war songs.

“Work is my main outlet,” he says. “On the stage I am the master of every emotion and mood. The stage is a great thing. I don’t tire of saying that I am the happiest man in the world.”

“Renée Fleming and Dmitry Hvorostovsky Perform in the City of Palaces” premieres on THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, PBS. The film was conceived as a musical, historical and educational project centered on the “Venice of the North,” St. Petersburg, with its music, voices, and sights.

Currently Hvorostovsky lives in London. Photo: Dmitry Hvorostovsky and wife Florence Hvorostovsky.