Sergei Romanov debuts in I pagliacci

Sergei Romanov’s characters are the focus of love affairs – they include the classical Russian character of Eugene Onegin and the cunning cheat and scoundrel Figaro, the lady-killer and romantic Count Almaviva as well as the poor Parisian artist Marcello to name but a few. The “professionally convincing” singer appeared as Jaroslav Prus in the opera Věc Makropulos (The Makropulos Affair), staged at the Mariinsky Theatre by Graham Vick. He was highly commended for his appearance in last season’s most anticipated opera premiere, Rodion Shchedrin’s Dead Souls (production by Vasily Barkhatov and Zinovy Margolin), in which he sang the lead role which was composed for a “virtuoso baritone.” Romanov’s Chichikov was “nosy, cunning and fearful.” As Kultura newspaper noted, “he performed a role intense in virtuoso quasi Italian fioritura freely and with great flair.”

Romanov’s new amorous lead character is the peasant Silvio in Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera I pagliacci. The role of his beloved Nedda, an actress in an itinerant company, will be sung by Natalia Tymchenko. The lovers are doomed to perish at the hands of the noble yet jealous jester Canio, to be performed by Vladimir Galuzin.