May 15, 1998

All Contents ©Copyright The Shawnee News-Star

Siberian baritone becomes international star

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dmitri Hvorostovsky does things his way.

While other Russian singers have become stars at Valery Gergiev's Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg, the baritone gained international acclaim the Western way: by hopping from theater to theater in Europe and the United States.

"I'm not part of any system," he said before a recent recital at Carnegie Hall. "I'm a free man. Even though I admire Mr. Gergiev and his theater, I can't handle the system or the politics."

Hvorostovsky grew up in Krasnoyarsk, in central Siberia. He became a soloist at the Krasnoyarsk Opera in 1986, won the Russian Glinka National Competition, then attracted international impresarios by winning vocal contests at Toulouse, France (1988) and Cardiff, Wales (1989).

In the latter, he beat out Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel for the top prize. The two are now among the most sought-after singers in the world.

"When I took first prize, I began to have right to choose," Hvorostovsky said.

His voice is dark beyond its years. It flows rather than overpowers, with a mellow softness that's rare for baritones. His recordings -- "Arie Antiche" and "Olga & Dmitri" are the latest -- show a highly polished voice with outstanding breath control.

His matinee-idol looks don't hurt, either: long, flowing hair that turned prematurely silver and seems headed for polar bear white. It's hard to believe he's just 35.

He laughs as he remembers growing up in Siberia. He jokes that his career might have been determined before he was born. "Probably I heard the music in my mother's womb," he says during lunch at an Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

And then came those piano lessons when he was 7, and his first piano teacher told him he was untalented. At Krasnoyarsk Pedagogical School and Krasnoyarsk High School of Arts, he thrived in music, boxing and soccer. "Apart from this, I was the worst pupil in school," he said with a straight face.

Hvorostovsky sounds confident, not boastful. He says he wants to overcome a characteristic he senses in many Russians.

"There is a great deal of pessimism," he says. "If you deal with Russians, most Russians are very doubtful. Eventually something in the character of Russians -- you may feel satisfied and confident, then there is a tiny little nerve that spasms. You will not sleep well at night."

He moved to Moscow from Siberia in 1991, but three years later decided his wife, a former ballerina, and his stepdaughter would be better off in London.

"We had to have bodyguards," he recalled of the Moscow years. "We had robbers. We had threats from Mafiosi. I had to have a guy to take my stepdaughter to school every day. It wasn't good."

His parents remain in Siberia, where they look after his grandmother, who refuses to move.

He already has taken star turns in Europe's major houses and in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

He will open this summer's Ravinia Festival outside Chicago in a gala with Kathleen Battle on July 11, and sing Giorgio in "La Traviata" next November at the Chicago Lyric Opera. He then goes back to the Metropolitan Opera to reprise his role in Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades" under Gergiev's baton, and sings in Verdi's "I Masnadieri" with the Opera Orchestra of New York. A future "Faust" is planned at the Met, too.

"I have enough exposure to decide what to do," he says. "My voice has grown and developed. I'm going to do 'Rigoletto' for the first time (Houston in 2001) and I'm going to see if I'm good enough and strong enough to do it without straining. I'm dreaming about singing 'Boris,' but it's just my dreams. Sooner or later, I'm going to do some German opera. 'Wozzeck?' Why not?"

As he jets around the world, though, there are still thoughts of Russia. No matter how far away he is, it's still in his blood.

"It's not perfect. It is still suffering," he says. "It's my country, and I am a part of it."