Michail Svetlev

He started singing as a chansonnier, then had his voice trained, and sang comprimario parts at the Sofia opera theater from 1968 to 1970. By chance, the German conductor Bernhard Lang heard him, and arranged a contract for him in Passau, where he sang Manrico as his first main role in 1971. He went on to the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, to Augsburg and Bremen. Then he sang primarily at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and in Mannheim, but was a guest at many German theaters, including the State Operas of Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart. Beyond Germany, he sang at the Vienna State Opera, at La Scala, Covent Garden, the Colón in Buenos Aires, in Amsterdam, Liège, Marseille, Washington, Houston, San Francisco or Philadelphia: an amazing career, particularly for a singer of his quality.

I heard him once as Cavaradossi at the Vienna State Opera, and of all terrible Cavaradossis of my life, he took the cake. It's not that his voice was ill-placed; it didn't have any placement at all, and fluttered about and away in all possible directions.

His repertory included Radames, Turiddu, Calaf, Gabriele Adorno, Duca, Don Carlo, Edgardo, Bacchus, Lenskij, German, Grigorij, Sobinin, Lykov, Jeník...

Reference: Kutsch & Riemens