Vasyl Savenko (born in 1949, Troitske village, Liubashiv district, Odesa region, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian opera and chamber singer, bass-baritone.
Biography.
Vasyl Savenko was born in 1949 in the Odesa region. He began his vocal studies at the Nezhdanova Odesa Conservatory. He continued his studies at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatoire, where he studied vocals with Bolshoi Theatre soloist and People's Artist of the RSFSR Alexei Bolshakov, graduating in 1978.
Then he worked for nine years at the Dnipro Opera and Ballet Theatre, singing the leading roles of the baritone repertoire. In 1981, he won the Mykola Lysenko Ukrainian Vocal Competition in Kharkiv.
In 1982-1983 he trained at the Bolshoi Theatre under the direction of People's Artist of the USSR Pavel Lisitsian. Since 1987, Vasyl Savenko has worked in the creative studio of the Bolshoi Theatre soloist, People's Artist of Russia, State Prize winner Mikhail Kiselyov. In 1989, he became a laureate of the Moscow Festival-Competition of Vocalists dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Mussorgsky. Since 1992, Vasyl Savenko has been working under contract in the UK.
Repertoire and creative contacts
Vasyl Savenko actively promotes Ukrainian and Russian chamber music, as well as music by contemporary Ukrainian and Russian composers in the West, Ukraine and Russia.
He has participated in international music festivals, including the Metner Festival in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Vladimir in 2007.
Vasyl Savenko's repertoire includes both baritone and bass opera roles by Ukrainian and foreign composers, as well as chamber music by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Metner, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Taneev, Edison Denisov, Reinhold Glier, Yuri Kasparov, Vadim Kulov, etc. Two of Borys Liatoshynskyi's romances were performed by the singer for the first time.
On 28 November 1995, at the Moscow Autumn Music Festival in Moscow, he premiered Yuri Kasparov's mono-opera Nevermore (1991) for baritone and 17 instrumentalists:
"Kasparov found a wonderful performer: baritone Vasily Savenko sang the part beautifully, memorably and temperamentally".
Vasily Savenko performs in a creative collaboration with such musicians as Boris Berezovsky, Alexander Blok, Valery Gergiev, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and others.
An English reviewer reported on the staging and performance by the Chelsea Opera (Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 2002) of two operas by Sergei Rachmaninoff, The Miserly Knight (Vasyl Savenko as Baron) and Francesca da Rimini (Vasyl Savenko as Lancotto) under the baton of Neeme Järva:
"A very strong cast has been selected for the operas, although the main credit must be given to Vasyl Savenko, who showed mastery of both the arioso of The Miserly Knight and the rhetoric of Francesca da Rimini, performing all his parts with clear and expressive nuance."
Discography
Russian Settings to Robert Burns: Sviridov, Denisov, Shostakovich, Levitin, Khrennikov (Toccata Classics 2009)
Medtner: Contes & Poèmes / Boris Berezovsky (piano), Yana Ivanilova (soprano) (Mirare 2008)
Tchaikovsky: Oprichnik (Opera). Prince Perlinniy - Vasily Savenko / G. Rozhdestvensky (conductor) (Dynamic 2004)
English Poets, Russian Romances / Alexander Blok (piano) (Hyperion 2000)
Russian Vocal Masterpieces: Mussorgsky & Rimsky-Korsakov songs / Michael Dussek (piano) (Meridian 1999)
Russian Images, Vol. 2: Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Taneyev, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Mosolov / Alexander Blok (piano) (Hyperion 1999)
Russian Images, Vol. 1: Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Medtner, Gretchaninov, Lyatoshinsky, Rachmaninov / Alexander Blok (piano) (Hyperion 1998)
