Sergei Leiferkus

Sergei Petrovich Leiferkus (Russian: Сергей Петрович Лейферкус; born April 4, 1946 in Leningrad ) is a Russian opera and concert singer ( heroic baritone ).

Leiferkus studied music at the Conservatory in Leningrad, after graduating, he was hired in 1972 at the Maly Theatre and from 1977 at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad. His repertoire includes pieces in Russian and Italian. He is known for his roles as Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, Iago in Verdi's Otello and Simon Boccanegra ( title role ), the High Priest of Dagon in Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint- Saëns. In the concert repertoire, he has become famous through the interpretation of Modest Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death and the bass parts in the Symphony No. 13 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Opera houses and orchestras

Leiferkus gave guest performances at the major opera houses around the world, including London's Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, the Opéra Bastille in Paris, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, the New York Met, De Nederlandse Opera, the Teatro Colón, also Festival such as the Edinburgh Festival, the Bregenz Festival or the Glyndebourne Festival. He also worked with many leading conductors and orchestras: Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti and Seiji Ozawa; with the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.