Viktor Mikhailovich Chernomortsev
Russian baritone Viktor Mikhailovich Chernomortsev, has died on 4 November at the age of sixty-six, according to an announcement by the Mariinsky Theatre, where he was an important performer during the last twenty years.
Born in the Krasnodar Region, he studied vocals at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire. From 1973–1974 he was a soloist at the Saratov Chernyshevsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. From 1974–1992 he was a soloist at the Kuibyshev Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1992 he became a soloist with the Wiener Staatsoper, while in 1994 he made his Mariinsky Theatre debut as Scarpia in the opera Tosca. Recent memorable major roles of the great singer at the Mariinsky Theatre included those of Tsarev in Sergei Prokofiev’s opera Semyon Kotko (production by Yuri Alexandrov), Alberich in Richard Wagner’s Siegfried and Falstaff in Giuseppe Verdi’s eponymous opera (production by Kirill Serebrennikov).
