From: Saratov, Russia. LA Opera: Giorgio Germont in La Traviata (2019, debut). Upcoming: Iago in Otello (2023).

Russian baritone Igor Golovatenko quickly made a name for himself on both the concert platform and operatic stage after his debut in the 2006 Russian premiere of Delius' Eine Messe des Lebens with the Russian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Having studied at the Moscow Academy of the Choral Arts with Dmitry Vdovin, Mr. Golovatenko was awarded first prize at the St. Petersburg Three Centuries of Classical Romance Competition and second prize at Dresden's International Competizione dell'Opera. A leading baritone at the Bolshoi Opera, Igor Golovatenko will return there this season as Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, and Robert in Iolanta. He has previously appeared at the Bolshoi as Germont in La Traviata, Posa in Don Carlo and Marcello in La Boheme.

In recent seasons, he has made a number of significant debuts: Severo in Donizetti's Poliuto at the Glyndebourne Festival, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Guy de Montfort in Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, and Count di Luna in Il Trovatore at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. This season, he will also debut at the Salzburg Festival as Prince Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, appear at the Opéra de Bordeaux as Ernesto in Il Pirata, and sing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the BBC Wales’s Proms in the Park.

His appearances in the 2022/23 season will include Rodrigue in the original five-act French version of Don Carlos with Lyric Opera of Chicago. Future engagements also include his debut at the Metropolitan Opera.

Other recent performances include Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Cologne Opera; his return to the Glyndebourne Festival as Germont in La Traviata; Rachmaninov's Spring Cantata with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican; Iokanaan in Mariotte's Salome and Carlo Gustavo in Foroni's Cristina regina di Svezia at the Wexford Festival; Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, Opera Giocosa di Savona and Teatro di Bergamo as part of the Bergamo Music Festival; the title role in Rigoletto with Opera Giocosa di Savona (directed by Rolando Panerai); Seid in Verdi's Il Corsaro at the Teatro Verdi di Trieste (conducted and directed by Gianluigi Gelmetti); the title role in Eugene Onegin at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli; Count di Luna in Il Trovatore in Riga, Latvia; Lopakhin in Fénelon's La Cerisaie at the Opéra National de Paris; Shchelkalov and Rangoni in Boris Godunov at the Teatro Massimo Palermo (directed by Hugo de Ana); Monfort in Les Vêpres Siciliennes at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli; Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov at the Bavarian State Opera (conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Calixto Bieito); and Germont in La Traviata (directed by Francesca Zambello) and Rodrigo in Don Carlo (directed by Adrian Noble) at the Bolshoi.