Yulii Aronovych Modestov (real name Bluvshtein; b. 1874, Berdychiv, now Zhytomyr region - d. 18 January 1921, Yekaterinburg) was a Ukrainian opera singer (dramatic baritone).
He received a law degree from Kyiv University, and in 1899-1903 he worked as an assistant to a sworn attorney at the Kyiv Judicial Chamber.
He studied singing in Kyiv, his teachers were I. Tartakov and K. Everardi. Since 1903, he performed on opera stages: Kharkiv (in O. Tsereteli's entreprise), Moscow (S. Zimin's Opera, 1904/05), Zhytomyr (1906-1908), Rostov-on-Don (1907), Tiflis (1907, 1910), St. Petersburg (1908, 1912-1913), Samara (1909/10), Vilna (1910), Kharkiv (1911/12), Kyiv (1913-19115), and Yekaterinburg (1915, 1919-1921).
His son Modestov also became an opera singer.
Parties.
Ruslan ("Ruslan and Lyudmila" by M. Glinka)
Boris Godunov (Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky)
Julius Windex (Nero by A. Rubinstein)
Kirill Troekurov (Dubrovsky by E. Nadezhdaev)
Demon (Demon by A. Rubinstein)
Mazepa ("Mazepa" by P. Tchaikovsky)
Robert (Iolanta by P. Tchaikovsky)
Vasyl Kochubey (Mazepa by P. Tchaikovsky)
Count Tomsky ("The Blame Game" by P. Tchaikovsky)
Prince Kurlyatiev (The Sorceress by P. Tchaikovsky)
Venetian guest (Sadko by N. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Grigory Gryaznoy (The Tsar's Bride by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Valentin (Faust by Gounod)
Comte de Nevers (The Huguenots by J. Meyerbeer)
Nelusco (The African by J. Meyerbeer)
Escamillo (Carmen by G. Bizet)
Rigoletto (Rigoletto by G. Verdi)
Germon (La Traviata by G. Verdi)
Iago (Otello by G. Verdi)
Renato (La bohème masquerade by G. Verdi)
Count di Luna (Il Trovatore by G. Verdi)
Amonasro (Aida by G. Verdi)
Scarpia (Tosca by G. Puccini)
Alfio (La Dolce Vita by P. Mascagni)
Tonio and Silvio (La Pagliacci by R. Leoncavallo)
Janusz ("Pebbles" by S. Moniuszko)
His best performance is considered to be the role of Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
Recording.
He recorded on gramophone records in Moscow ("Lyrophone", 1905; Pathé, 1911), Tiflis ("Gramophone", 1905; "Siren", 1910), Vilna ("Zonophon", 1909-1913), Kyiv ("Extraphon", 1914).
A total of 94 pieces were recorded, including two romances by M. Lysenko "Without You, Olesia" and "Hetmans, Hetmans" (1913).
