Nesterenko, Evgeni (Evgenievich)

distinguished Russian bass; b. Moscow, Jan. 8, 1938. Nesterenko first studied architectural engineering, graduating from the Leningrad Structural Institute in 1961. He then enrolled in the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied voice.

Nesterenko began his opera career at the Maly Theater in Leningrad from 1963 to 1967, then was a member of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater there until 1971. In 1970 he won first prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and in 1971 joined the Bolshoi Theater. Nesterenko then engaged on a European concert tour and also sang in the U.S. In 1975 he was appointed chairman of the voice department at the Moscow Conservatory. He excelled in such roles as Boris Godunov and Méphistophélès. In 1982 he was awarded the Lenin Prize. He sang GIUSEPPE VERDI'S Zaccaria (NABUCCO) in Barcelona in 1984, BÉ LA BARTÓK'S Bluebeard in Budapest in 1988, GIOACCHINO ROSSINI'S Don Basilio in Munich in 1990, and Verdi's Attila in Antwerp in 1993 and his King Philip in Helsinki in 1995.