A bass singer and soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia.
He graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, where he studied with Professor Hugo Tits, and then completed postgraduate studies in the class of Professor Nina Dorliak, People’s Artist of the USSR.
While still a fourth‑year student he joined the Bolshoi Theatre’s probationary group.
At the 11th M. I. Glinka All‑Union Vocal Competition he received the Prize for Artistry, and in 1985 he won First Prize at the International Vocal Competition in Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), as well as the special Elly Ameling Prize for the best performance of an oratorio‑chamber programme.
From 1985 to 1991 he was a leading soloist with the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic.
Continuing to refine his skills, Alexander Naumenko completed the «Advanced Performance Mastery» course in Mainz (Germany) in the class of the distinguished German singer Hans Hotter, and also undertook further training in Vienna (Austria) with Professor Norman Schetler.
His operatic career began with his 1991 debut at the Bolshoi Theatre as Don Bartolo in Rossini’s «Il barbiere di Siviglia», and has continued there ever since.
Over more than twenty years on the opera stage he has sung around forty major roles, including:
- Ferrando (Verdi «Il trovatore»);
- Don Bartolo (Mozart «Le nozze di Figaro»);
- Colline (Puccini «La Bohème»);
- Leporello (Dargomyzhsky «The Stone Guest»);
- Tsar Dodun (Rimsky‑Korsakov «The Golden Cockerel», two Bolshoi productions);
- Mag Celio (Prokofiev «The Love for Three Oranges»);
- Banquo (Verdi «Macbeth»);
- Prince Vyazminsky (Tchaikovsky «The Oprichnik»);
- the Retired General (Prokofiev «The Gambler»);
- Ivan the Terrible (Rimsky‑Korsakov «The Maid of Pskov»);
- the Miller (Dargomyzhsky «Rusalka»);
- Salieri (Rimsky‑Korsakov «Mozart and Salieri»);
- Father Frost (Rimsky‑Korsakov «The Snow Maiden»);
- Padre Guardiano (Verdi «La forza del destino»);
- Ivan Khovansky (Mussorgsky «Khovanshchina»);
- Boris Timofeyevich (Shostakovich «Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk»);
- Prince Gremin (Tchaikovsky «Eugene Onegin»);
- Daland (Wagner «Der fliegende Holländer»);
- Sobakin (Rimsky‑Korsakov «The Tsar’s Bride»);
- Count Rostov (Prokofiev «War and Peace»);
- Kochubey (Tchaikovsky «Mazepa»);
- Johann Faust (Prokofiev «The Fiery Angel»);
- Pimen (Mussorgsky «Boris Godunov», in two Bolshoi productions).
Alexander Naumenko has a profound and wide‑ranging professional background.
Appearances at major opera houses—including the Bolshoi Theatre, the Opéra National de Paris (Bastille/Grand Opéra), Opéra‑Comique (Paris), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (London), La Scala (Milan), and opera theatres in Tokyo, Madrid, Athens, Hong Kong, and elsewhere — have in no way diminished his commitment to oratorio and recital repertoire. His concert repertoire includes Mozart’s «Requiem», Bach’s «Magnificat», «St. Matthew Passion» and «Contest between Phoebus and Pan», and the «Stabat Mater» by Haydn, Rossini, and Dvořák.
A dedicated advocate of Russian vocal music, he frequently gives joint recitals in Russia and abroad with his daughter Alexandra Naumenko, a pianist and vocal coach with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Their programmes feature works by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, and Sviridov.
Alexander Naumenko heads the Solo Academic Singing Department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, where his students include talented young singers, laureates of national and international competitions, and soloists of Moscow opera theatres.
He is also deeply involved in cultural and educational work as Deputy Chair of the Moscow Musical Society, Chair of the Artistic Commission for Academic Vocal at the «Festos» Student Festival‑Competition, and head of the «Dmitriyev Readings» vocal‑methodological conference.
He has completed a two‑year professional retraining programme in Solo Academic Singing, as well as subsequent advanced‑training courses.
