Rajkov was born on March 25th, 1937 in Moscow. From 1958 to 1962,
he studied singing at the Musical-Pedagogical School; he continued his studies in 1962–63 at Gnesin with K. Malkova, and in
1966 at La Scala with Barra.
He was a laureate of the All-Union Glinka competition of vocalists (second prize, 1962), of the fourth international competition
for young opera singers in Sofia (second prize, 1970), and he received the award of the Komsomol.
In 1961, Rajkov became a soloist at the Bolshoj. He sang Johnson,
Calaf, Cavaradossi, Bajan, Sobinin, Indian guest,
Pinkerton, Faust, Steuermann, First singer & Lenskij (Onegin), Russian soldier (Zhizn za tsarja),
Messenger & Radames (Aida), Fenton, First singer & Prince (Rusalka),
Vladimir Igorevich, Tailor (Taming of of the Shrew by V. Ya. Shyebalin),
Master of ceremonies & German (Pikovaja dama), Fisherman (Oktjabr by Muradeli),
Voice behind the scene & Kutuzov's adjutant & Pierre Bezukhov (Vojna i mir/War and peace),
Vsevolod, Aleksej (Optimisticheskaja tragedija by Kholminov),
Tucha (Pskovitjanka), Golitsyn,
Nozdrev (Mjortvye dushi/Dead souls by Shchedrin), Shujskij, Grigorij,
Grandfather Mikhajlo (Povest o nastojashchem cheloveke/The story of a real man by Prokofyev), Lykov,
Rajmond] (Orleanskaja deva), ...
Rajkov toured extensively in
Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Australia, and Japan.
At the end of his career,
Rajkov pursued an administrative activity at the Bolshoj. In 1989, he became
director of the Bolshoi.
He took part in the following films: And on the Pacific ocean (I na tikhom okeane, 1973),
The legend of Till (Legenda o Tile, 1976), and
Let us have a talk, brother (Pogovorim brat, 1978)
He recorded on video: Falstaff (Fenton, 1974)
and Tsarskaja nevesta (Lykov, 1964).
Rajkov died on June 11th, 2010 and is buried on Troekurovskij cemetery in Moscow.
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