Vitalij Orlenin

Born in 1927. Acclaimed artist of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1963).

In 1954, he graduated with honors from the vocal faculty of the Gnesin Musical-Pedagogical Institute in Moscow and was accepted into the trainee group of the Bolshoj Theater.

He was one of the first and very few singers to complete their trainee stage in only five months, and was accepted to the branch of the Bolshoj, where he performed from 1955 to 1960. Orlenin quickly found his place there and performed in such roles as Duca, Faust, Rodolfo, Vladimir, alongside such great singers as Irina Arkhipova, Galina Vishnevskaja, Sergej Lemeshev, Georgij Neljepp, Pavel Lisitsian, Ivan Petrov, Elizaveta Shumskaja, and many other leading soloists of the Bolshoj.

After the closing of the branch of the Bolshoj, Orlenin was invited to be a leading soloist at the Kazakh Theater of Opera and Ballet. He sang there from 1960 to 1986. Among his most outstanding roles were Vodemon, Gérald, Manrico, Grigorij. Altogether, his repertoire included about 40 leading lyric and lyric-dramatic tenor roles.

Starting from 1963, while performing at the opera theater, he also worked at the chair of solo singing at the Kazakh State Conservatory. Starting from 1975, he devoted more and more time to scientific work and teaching, appearing with his works in many conferences in Russia and Kazakhstan. In 1976, Orlenin started working on his PhD in fine arts at the Gnesin Institute, under the guidance of one of the most prominent figures in the field of vocal method – L. B. Dmitriev. With his help, he had prepared a thesis "Phonetics of singing and particular qualities of the teaching of contemporary Kazakh opera and concert singers". In 1981, Orlenin received his academic title. He published over 30 academic works. Among his students: Laki Kesoglu, Ljudmila Aslanova, Kanat Omarbaev, Jurij Pichugin, Valentin Khan.

He died in Moscow in 1998, aged 70.