Evgeny Nikitin

Biography

Born in Murmansk. Graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire (class of Bulat Minzhilkiev, 1997). While still a 4th year student, he was invited to join the Mariinsky Opera. It wasn’t long before he was invited to major theatres and festivals throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia.

2002 marked his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in War and Peace. Return invitations to New York include Colline/ La Bohème, Pogner /Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Fasolt /Das Rheingold, Orest /Elektra, der Wanderer /Siegfried, Rangoni /Boris Godunov, Klingsor /Parsifal and Gunter/Götterdämmerung.

Nikitin made his Parisian debut at the Theatre du Châtelet in the title role of Rubinstein’s The Demon and returned in 2005 to sing the title role of Boris Godunov. Further roles at the Paris Opera include Jochanaan/Salome, Klingsor, Tomski /Pique Dame, Gunther/Götterdämmerung, the title role of Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and Oreste/Elektra.

He made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 2008 as Jochanaan and he appears there regularly in roles such as Klingsor and Telramund /Lohengrin. In 2017 he sang Der Fliegende Holländer and returned for a major new production of The Fiery Angel.

Major festival appearances include Fasolt (Rattle) in Aix-en-Provence, der Wanderer at the BBC Proms (Eschenbach), Ibn Hakia / Iolanta in Salzburg, Jochanaan at the Verbier Festival where he returned in 2014 as Pizzaro / Fidelio.

Concert performances include Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death at the Schleswig Holstein Festival and at the Berlin Philharmonic, scenes from Boris Godunov with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, Mahler’s 8th Symphony and Rubinstein’s The Demon with the LSO, Oedipus Rex with the Müncher Philharmoniker, Verdi’s Requiem with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Jochanaan with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Telramund with the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

He sings regularly at the Mariinsky theatre and at the ‘Stars of the White Nights Festival’ performing his favourite roles, Boris Godunov, Filippo/Don Carlo, Holländer, Amfortas, Wotan /Das Rheingold, The Wanderer, Don Giovanni, etc.

Recent engagements include Tristan und Isolde at the season opening of the Metropolitan Opera, Tosca and Don Carlo in Baden Baden, Der Fliegende Holländer in Madrid, Toronto, Paris, Leipzig and Tokyo; Amfortas /Parsifal in Berlin and Valencia (Maazel), Don Pizzaro / Fidelio in Valencia, Jochanaan in Zurich and Amsterdam, Don Pizzaro and Telramund at the Wiener Staatsoper, Scarpia in Chicago and Boris Godunov and in an acclaimed production at the Mariinsky Theatre, the Wanderer (Siegfried) in concert version with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the title role of Der Fliegende Höllander in a Metropolitan Opera new production and Scarpia at the Metropolitan Opera New Year’s Eve Gala concert.

The 2020/21 season saw Mr Nikitin based exclusively in Saint Petersburg where we sang a busy season of major roles with the Mariinsky Theatre, and he was the Casta Diva Prize winner as best male Russian artist.

The 2021/22 season saw his return to Paris for Khovanschina.

His recordings include Amfortas / Parsifal with the Mariinsky/Gergiev and again with the Berlin Radio Symphony/Janowski as well as Rangoni / Boris Godunov and Remeniuk /Semyon Kotko for Philips Classics. He has also recorded a solo recital of Wagner arias for Naïve. Cinema and DVD appearances include Parisfal and Boris Godunov from the MET, Boris Godunov at the Mariinsky, the Bayerische Staatsoper, etc.