Vasily Gerello Gala Performance

The audience reaction to the seeming simplicity of the words, to the melodic structure of the musical phrasing, to how Vasily Gerello sang out his roles with his masculine, velvety baritone voice was indescribable: it was triumph and joy and enjoyment, attained once again and sincerely felt. Nevskoe vremya ... in addition to the brilliant vocals, Gerello’s onstage image had acquired a gloss and refinement. Already in the first work – Figaro’s cavatina from Il barbiere di Siviglia – all the singer’s qualities shone through: the power, flexibility and mobility of his voice, the even speech, the beautiful timbre... In the second part, Gerello showed himself to be a true Verdian singer. Both Rodrigo’s aria and scène from Don Carlo and Macbeth’s aria he sang with his capacious, powerful, intensely dramatic sound. Vecherny Peterburg Yet another undoubted success is the image of Don Carlo created by Vasily Gerello. Before us we have a young man, lively and animated, for whom the concept of honour lies above all else. The singer conveys to us precisely the essence of the character of Verdi’s hero. His particular merit lies in the precision of his vocal play and interesting acting style. Each of these characteristics is conveyed through the magnificent, enchanting baritone voice, which captivates us through the power of its sound and its artistry. Rossiiskaya gazeta

• People´s Artist of Russia.
• Honoured Artist of Ukraine.
• Prize-winner at the BBC International Opera Singers´ Competition (Cardiff, 1993).
• Prize-winner at the International Rimsky-Korsakov Young Opera Singers´ Competition (1^st prize, St Petersburg, 1994).
• Recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg´s highest theatre prize (1999).
• Recipient of the Fortissimo music prize, founded by the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire ("Performing skills" category).

Born in Vaslovitsy in Chernovitsky Region (Ukraine). Graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1991 (class of Professor N. Serval). Was invited to join the Kirov (Mariinsky) Opera Company while still a fourth year student in 1990.

At the Mariinsky Theatre he has performed the roles of:
Pastor (Khovanshchina),
Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov),
Onegin (Eugene Onegin),
Robert (Iolanta),
Tomsky, Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades),
Pantalone (Love for Three Oranges),
Napoleon (War and Peace),
Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia),
Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor),
Giorgio Germont (La traviata),
Renato (Un ballo in maschera),
Don Carlo (La forza del destino),
Marquis of Posa (Don Carlo),
Macbeth (Macbeth),
Amonasro (Aida),
Ford (Falstaff),
Marcello (La bohème),
Sharpless (Madama Butterfly),
Valentin (Faust)
Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro).

Repertoire also includes: the Duke (The Miserly Knight), Baleario (Salammbô), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar), Simon Boccanegra (Simon Boccanegra), Riccardo (I puritani), Alfio (La cavalleria rusticana), Filippo Maria Visconti (Beatrice di Tenda), Tonio (I pagliacci), Don Carlo (Ernani) and di Luna (Il trovatore).

Has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company to Spain, Italy, Scotland (Edinburgh Festival), Finland (Mikkeli Festival), France and Portugal. Guest soloist with the world´s leading opera houses, among them the Opéra Bastille (Paris), the Semperoper (Dresden), the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper (Berlin), the Metropolitan Opera (New York), the Wiener Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), La Fenice (Venice), the National Opera of Canada (Toronto), the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), the Teatro San Paolo (Brazil), the Opera Santiago de Chile, La Scala (Milan) and opera houses in Amsterdam and Bergen.

Has a busy concert schedule. He has taken part in a concert by young soloists of Pacific Ocean nations at the San Francisco Opera, performed a solo programme at the Théâtre du Châtelet and sung a concert of bel canto music with the Symphony Orchestra of Belgium. Has performed in New York (Carnegie Hall) and London (Royal Albert Hall) with the Dallas and New York Symphony Orchestras. He has appeared with such outstanding conductors as Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Muti, Myung-Whun Chung, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink and Fabio Luisi.