Nikolai GASSIEV, tenor

Honoured Artist of Russia. Awarded a Grammy in 1996 and 1998 for roles in Borodin's Prince Igor and Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery. Graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1980. Mariinsky Theatre soloist since 1990. Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre includes: Andrei Khovansky, Vasily Golitsyn, Scribe (Khovanshchina), the Pretender Dmitri, Shuisky, Simpleton (Boris Godunov), Grishka Kuterma (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), the Marquis (The Gambler), Don Jerome (Betrothal in a Monastery), Fieramosca (Benvenuto Cellini), Loge (Das Rheingold), Mime (Siegfried), Herod (Salome). Has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company to Germany (Hamburg Opera), Spain, Scotland (Edinburgh Festival), Finland, Israel, Italy, the USA (Metropolitan Opera), France, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Korea, Portugal, Luxembourg, Turkey and the UK (Covent Garden). Performs independently at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and La Scala, Milan. Recordings include: Betrothal in a Monastery, The Gambler, The Tsar?s Bride, The Maid of Pskov and Khovanshchina for Philips Classics.