Anatolii Ivanovych Kocherha (born 9 July 1949) is a Ukrainian opera singer, bass. Member of the Verkhovna Rada of the USSR of the 11th convocation.
Biographical information
He was born on 9 July 1947 (according to the USS - 1949) in the village of Samhorodok, Kozyatyn district, Vinnytsia region. In 1965-1966, he worked as a boiler operator at a power plant in Vinnytsia Oblast.
In 1973, he graduated from the Kyiv State Conservatory.
Since 1973, he has been an opera soloist at the Taras Shevchenko State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Ukrainian SSR in Kyiv. Member of the CPSU since 1977.
Since 1979 he has been People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, since 1983 - People's Artist of the USSR.
In 1989, he was awarded the Shevchenko Prize "for creating the roles in the operas Boris Godunov by M. Mussorgsky, Don Carlos by G. Verdi, and Milan by Heorhiy Maiboroda at the Taras Shevchenko State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Ukrainian SSR".
In the 2000s, Anatolii Kocherha and his wife Lina lived mainly in the suburbs of Vienna. They also have an apartment in Kyiv. A. Kocherha has not changed his citizenship and remains a citizen of Ukraine. According to the singer himself, "I only work abroad. Although I am constantly offered to stay abroad. But I don't want to. I go to work... All my posters, in almost all languages, say that I am from Ukraine. And I am proud of it."
Since 2018, he has been an advisor to the rector of the NMAU on creative issues.
Creative background.
He started his career at the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he was a soloist since 1972. In 1975-1976, he trained at La Scala. In 1989, he received the State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR for his performances in the operas Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi, and Milan by Heorhiy Maiboroda. The poet Yevhen Yevtushenko wrote about the singer:
"Kocherha, Anatolii,
has a special anatomy:
He only eats and drinks with his throat,
but he breathes and sings with his heart."
In 1982, he played the role of Mephistopheles in the film-opera "Faust", directed by B. Nebieridze at Ukrtelefilm.
In 1989, he sang in Modest Mussorgsky's opera The Hiding Place at the Vienna State Opera, after which he began his close collaboration with conductor Claudio Abbado and other prominent opera artists. He has also sung at the Salzburg Festival, the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Vienna State Opera, and the Vienna Opera's tour of Japan. In 2011-2012, A. Kocherha took part in productions of Don Carlos in Munich, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County in Madrid, and Chopin at the Metropolitan Opera (New York). The singer has also collaborated with M. Rostropovich, G. Kremer, O. Seiji, V. Ashkenazy and others.
Interesting facts
In the 1980s, Herbert von Karajan sent Anatoliy Kocherha a proposal for cooperation, but received no response. This did not stop him, and he continued to send Kocherha inquiries without receiving any response. Anatolii Kocherha found out about these attempts by the maestro to meet him while he was abroad, when they met in person and Karayan reproached Kocherha for his impoliteness. It turned out that these invitations were simply not extended to Anatolii Kocherha in the theatre. Unfortunately, Karayan and Kocherha did not have time to work together. At the time of their meeting, Karayan was ill and died in 1989.
In 1998, a robber attacked Kocherga in Mexico City, shooting him in the leg. However, a week later, Kocherha was performing at the Mexican Opera in a wheelchair.
The fee for Anatolii Kocherha's participation in one performance at the Metropolitan Opera reaches 10 thousand dollars.
In 1987, I. Kocherha compiled the collection "Arias, Romances and Songs from the Repertoire of Anatoliy Kocherha", which presents arias by Western European composers in Russian translations.
In 2003, the European yellow press lively discussed the romance of Anatoliy Kocherha's daughter Yulia, who lives in Frankfurt am Main, with German football star Lothar Matthäus
Audio albums
1989 - "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" by Dmitri Shostakovich, conducted by Stepan Turchak - The Old Convict
1989 - Modest Mussorgsky's "The Hiding Place", conducted by Claudio Abbado - Boyar Shaklovy
1992 - "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County" by Dmitri Shostakovich, conducted by Mun-Wun Cheung - Policeman
1993 - "Mazepa" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Kochubey
1993 - Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky, conducted by Claudio Abbado - Boris Godunov
1996 - The Poor Knight by Sergei Rachmaninoff, conducted by Neeme Järvi - The Servant
1997 - Aleko by Sergei Rachmaninoff, conducted by Neeme Järvi - The Old Gypsy
1998 - Don Giovanni by Mozart, conducted by Alain Lombard - The Commodore
2000 - War and Peace by Sergei Prokofiev, conducted by Gary Bertini - Kutuzov
2001 - Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi, conducted by Claudio Abbado - Pistol
2002 - Don Giovanni by Mozart, conducted by Bertrand de Billy - Commodore
2002 - "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" by Dmitri Shostakovich, conducted by Alexander Anisimov - Boris Timofeevich
2004 - "Boris Godunov" by Modest Mussorgsky, conducted by Sebastian Weigle - Varlaam
Awards and titles
Laureate of the 5th All-Union Glinka Vocal Competition (now the International Glinka Vocal Competition) (1st prize) (Vilnius, 1971)
Laureate of the vocal competition of the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin (1973)
Laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition (5th prize) (Moscow, 1974)
Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1975)
People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1979)
People's Artist of the USSR (1983)
Taras Shevchenko State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1989) - for performing roles in opera performances of Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky, Don Carlos by Verdi, Milan by Maiboroda
Honorary Academician of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (2018)
Prize of the Lenin Komsomol of Ukraine named after N.A. Ostrovsky (1980)
