Vladimir Karavya

Born in Odessa 12 January 1886 into a family of Greek descent, Karavya was successful at the Theater of Music Drama in St. Petersburg, not least also thanks to his acting talent. His domain was the dramatic repertory, his cheval-de-bataille was Canio.

In about 1926, he emigrated to France, and sang with various Russian troupes in Paris in the late 20's and early 30's. He died in Cannes on 14 August 1969.
Reference

As indicated by Ashot Arakelyan, Sergej Levik wrote the following about Karavya in his book An opera singer's notes

Karavya sang with great success. A Greek by birth, well-built, good looking, able to move well, he also had a fairly powerful tenor and could phrase with passion. His timbre was not bad but he did not make significant use of it. He had no cantilena but was involved in what he sang. He was one of those not very musical singers without musical culture, who absorb music intuitively and frequently achieve considerable power of expression. His German, Radames and particularly his Canio aroused the audience's sympathy, including that of the most demanding musicians. The dramatic repertory became his responsibility primarly because of his outstanding capabilities as an actor.

I wish to thank Ashot Arakelyan for the pictures (bottom 4).