Edem Umerov

In a short space of time he succeeded in captivating the hearts of St Petersburg residents with his unusually powerful voice with its beautiful timbre, his genuine emotionality, his extreme sincerity and his self-giving.
Teatralny Peterburg (“Theatrical St Petersburg”) newspaper

Baritone Edem Umerov may be called the true hero of the evening without any exaggeration. His strong, monolithic voice, brilliantly even across the entire range, flies over the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra without effort. (...) The singer breathes well and has excellent diction. He proved himself to be not just a brilliant musician who created a well thought out and deeply felt image (I’m not even going to mention the amazing ‘A flat’ in the famous aria!); Edem Umerov succeeded in conveying the sheer scale of his character’s personality – and that is something only Artists with a capital ‘A’ can do.
Kirill Shevchenko, Gorod (“The City”) magazine (St Petersburg), 18 September 2006. (About a Mariinsky Theatre production of Mazepa)

Baritone

• Honoured Artist of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania

Edem Umerov was born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 1960. In 1991 he graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory (classes of Professors Alexei Steblianko, Nikolai Okhotnikov and Georgy Zastavny).

Was a soloist at the St Petersburg Chamber Opera during 1992–1998.

Since 1998 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Opera Company.

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Boris Godunov, Rangoni and Mityukha (Boris Godunov)
Shaklovity (Khovanshchina)
Mazepa (Mazepa)
Prince Kurlyatev and Ivan Zhuran (The Enchantress)
Count Tomsky and Zlatogor (The Queen of Spades)
Ibn-Hakia (Iolanta)
Yushko Velebin (The Maid of Pskov)
Grigory Gryaznoy (The Tsar’s Bride)
Head of the Village (Christmas Eve)
Fyodor Poyarok (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya)
Igor Svyatoslavich (Prince Igor)
Aleko (Aleko)
Ivan Yakovlevich (The Nose)
Dolokhov and Denisov (War and Peace)
An English Under-Skipper (The Lefthander)
Dr Bartolo (Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Nabucco (Nabucco)
Ezio (Attila)
Macbeth (Macbeth)
Rigoletto (Rigoletto)
Amonasro (Aida)
Tonio (I pagliacci)
John Falstaff (Falstaff)
Baron Scarpia (Tosca)
Sonora (La fanciulla del West)
A Mandarin (Turandot)
Telramund and the King’s Herald (Lohengrin)
Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde)
Fritz Kotner (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg)
Alberich (Das Rheingold and Siegfried)
Alberich and Gunther (Götterdämmerung)
Klingsor (Parsifal)
Jokanaan (Salome)
Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten)
The High Priest (Samson et Dalila)
Roger (Król Roger)
Duke Bluebeard (Duke Bluebeard’s Castle)
Baritone solo in Duruflé’s Requiem

He has appeared at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, portraying Ibn-Hakia, and at St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre, performing the parts of Count Tomsky, Ibn-Hakia and Baron Scarpia.

The singer’s repertoire also includes the roles of Eugene Onegin (eponymous opera), Columbus (Alexander Smelkov’s Fifth Journey of Christopher Columbus) and Geronimo (Il matrimonio segreto).

Together with the Mariinsky Opera Company he has toured to Great Britain (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Italy (Teatro alla Scala, Ravenna Festival), Spain (Teatro Real), Germany (Festspielhaus Baden-Baden) and Israel.

Has worked as an associate professor at the Solo Singing Department of St Petersburg’s Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. He is currently a senior lecturer at the Solo Singing Department of the St Petersburg Conservatory.