Shvedov was born on December 25th, 1898 in Lyptsi, near
Kharkiv. In Ukrainian, his name would read Shvediv, but he never seems to have used that form of his
name anywhere (perhaps the family was of Russian descent?). He studied singing at the Kharkiv Musical and Dramatical
Institute during with M. Chemezov from 1926 to 1931.
1929–33, Shvedov was a soloist at the Kharkiv opera;
1933–36 at the Odessa opera, and 1936–43
at the Kiev opera. Shvedov was selected to go to Moscow for a Ukranian jubilee
celebration.
His repertory consisted among others of:
Andrij (Zaporozhets za Dunajem by Hulak-Artemovskyj), Petro (Natalka Poltavka), Andrij
(Taras Bulba),
Andrej (Mazepa), Davidov (Podnjataja tselina by Dzerzhinskij),
Pavlo (Perekop by J. Mejtus),
Jenik, Cavaradossi, etc.
Like Pechkovskij, Shvedov
stayed in the German
occupied territory at the beginning of the World War II, and continued to sing at the Kiev opera
(the Soviet artists of the Kiev opera
were evacuated to Irkutsk, at that time) with his wife,
also a soloist there (Sofija Judina).
He even had to sing in German.
Shvedov left Kiev and went to Germany, and then
to Italy. When he was in Italy, he met Professor Jevhen
Onatskyj, one of the most prominent figures of the Ukranian
community in Italy.
While being in Italy, Shvedov, gave a single
concert, together with other artists that escaped with
him. As a result Onatskyj begged him to audition
at Rome opera. Shvedov rejected the idea.
In 1950, Shvedov and his wife went to Argentina,
where they gave a few concerts from time to time, but Shvedov
never again enjoyed an operatic career.
Because of what happened during the World War II, Shvedov's name
and recordings, like for Pechkovskij,
were erased
from all Soviet public life.
He died in 1959.