Georges Pozemkovsky (in Russian, Georgij Mikhajlovich Pozemkovskij) was born on February 21st, 1890. He studied singing from 1912 to
1917 at the St. Petersburg conservatory.
1916–1919, Pozemkovsky appeared on stage at the Mariinskij. He made his debut on January 7, 1916 as Lenskij; further roles were
Luciano (Francesca da Rimini by Nápravnik), Bajan, Andrej Khovanskij, Vjazemskij (Knjaz Serebrjanyj by Kazachenko), Alphonse
(La muette de Portici), Don Juan (Kamennyj gost/The stone guest), Sinodal, Faust, Vladimir Igorevich, Roméo, Rodolfo.
Simultaneously, he sang in operetta.
After 1919, he lived outside Russia. In 1919, he toured Sweden together with Maria Kuznetsova.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he was a permanent soloist
of the Opéra Russe in Paris (for instance, as Shujskij, as Kuterma, or in Mozart and Salieri on June 3rd, 1932 with
Shaljapin), and went on tour: Brussels, Switzerland, Nice (1921, 1930),
Monte Carlo (1925), Barcelona (1924–25, 1927, 1929), Berlin (1928), and USA. At the Opéra-Comique in Paris, he made his
debut as Cavaradossi on April 3 1922. In 1926, he sang at Covent Garden in a concert version of The legend of the invisible city of
Kitezh. In 1931, he sang in the English premieres of Sadko and Rusalka at the Lyceum Theatre. He was considered one of the
outstanding singers of the time.
His repertory included: Fisherman (Solovej/The nightingale by Stravinsky), the title role in Tarass Boulba by Samuel-Rousseau (he did
not sing the world premiere as claimed in some books), Sadko, Prince (Rusalka), Grigorij, Shujskij, Tucha, German, Duca...
In the 1920/30s, he recorded some operatic excerpts.
Now his records are very poorly known, except perhaps for the duet from "Rusalka" with Shaljapin.
He
died in 1958.
Reference: Arkadij M. Pruzhanskij Otechestvennye pevtsy 1750–1917, vol. 1, Moscow 1991