Vladimir Ognev Bass   

Soloist with the Moscow Helikon State Opera, baritone, actor, and conductor, Vladimir Ognev, was born in 1967 in Siberia. He graduated from the Novosibirsk College with majors in Voice and Choral Conducting, and, while still a student at the College, founded and led a youth chorus that performed throughout Siberia and won many competitions.

In 1988, Ognev entered the Voice Faculty of the Novosibirsk Conservatory where, as a second-year student, he received invitations to perform with opera companies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Volgograd, and other cities in Russia. After graduating in 1992, he co-founded a theater company that combined opera and drama, and was awarded the Grand Prix of the Bolshaya Medveditza (Great Bear) Theater Festival for his performance of the lead role in Anton Chekhov's "The Bear."

The following year, Ognev appeared in the Pacific Music Festival (Japan) and performed throughout the country with the Festival Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. He has since performed under the batons of Arnold Katz,Sergio La Stella, Enrique Mazzola, Vladimir Jurovski, and other prominent conductors.

Ognev has participated in the Wexford (Ireland), Spoleto (Italy), Al Bustan (Lebanon) International Music Festivals, as well as others in Germany, Austria, South Korea, Spain, and elsewhere. At the Wexford festival he performed the part of Peter the Great in Denis Krief's production of Meyerbeer's "L'Etoile du Nord," which was recorded on the Marco Polo label. In 1998, Ognev was invited to join the cast of Moscow TV-6's program, "BIS," where he developed his talent in the genre of political parody.

Vladimir Ognev has appeared with the Helikon State Opera in Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffman" and Bizet's "Carmen" at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; in Verdi's "Macbeth" in Moscow; and in Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at the 2000 Montpellier Festival (France). The same year, Ognev played the lead role in a feature television film of Chekhov's "The Bear."

Reviews

"Bartolo - brilliantly sung and portrayed by Vladimir Ognev - here became a thoroughly rounded comic character in the best tradition of Italian opera buffo."

The Moscow Times