LeiferkuS, Sergei (Petrovich)

LeiferkuS, Sergei (Petrovich), Russian baritone; b. Leningrad, April 4, 1946. He was a student of Barsov and Shaposhnikov at the Leningrad Cons. In 1972 he became a member of the Maly Theater in Leningrad, in which city he made his debut at the Kirov Theater in Leningrad as Prince Andrei in War and Peace (1977); subsequently sang there with success. In 1982 he appeared as the Marquis in Massenet’s Griselidis at the Wexford Festival in England. In 1985 he sang for the first time at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow as Don Giovanni. In 1987 he made his debut at the English National Opera in London as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles, the same year he appeared as Eugene Onegin and Tomsky with the Kirov Opera at Covent Garden in London. He also made his U.S. debut that year as soloist in Shostakovich’s 13^th Sym. with the Boston Sym. Orch. In 1989 he returned to London to make his Wigmore Hall recital debut and his first appearance at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden as Luna; also sang for the first time at the Glyndebourne Opera as Mandryka and made his U.S. operatic debut at the San Francisco Opera as Telramund. In 1991 he sang Ruprecht in The Fiery Angel at the London Promenade Concerts. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as lago in 1994, and sang Ruprecht at his first appearance at Milan’s La Scala. Following an engagement as Prince Igor at the San Francisco Opera in 1996, he portrayed Telramund and Simon Boccanegra at Covent Garden in 1997. Among his other notable roles are Germont, Amonasro, Prince Igor, Rangoni, Escamillo, and Scarpia.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire