Bass GENNADY BEZZUBENKOV (Pimen) is a People's Artist of Russia and a recipient of the State Prize of Russia and the Baltika prize (2002). He has been awarded the Golden Sofit for his portrayal of Gurnemanz (Parsifal, 1997) and the Golden Mask, Russia's highest theater prize, for best male role in Wagner's opera Parsifal (1998).

Born in Staraya Vitelevka, Ulyanovsk Region, Bezzubenkov graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in 1979 (class of B. Lushin and N. Velter). He has been a Mariinsky Theater soloist since 1989, touring to Germany, France, Scotland (the Edinburgh Festival), Israel, the USA (Metropolitan Opera), Finland, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Turkey. His audio and video recordings with the Mariinsky Theater include War and Peace, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Iolanta, Sadko, The Fiery Angel, and The Tsar's Bride.

Bezzubenkov's repertoire includes over 50 roles, among them Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar), Varlaam and Pimen (Boris Godunov), Ivan Khovansky (Khovanshchina), Konchak (Prince Igor), Prince Gudal (The Demon), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), the Sea King (Sadko), Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), Vasily Sobakin (The Tsar's Bride), Virgil's Shadow (Rachmaninoff's Francesca da Rimini in concert), the bass role in Les Noces, A Fat Englishman (The Gambler), The King of Clubs and The Herald (The Love of Three Oranges), Kutuzov (War and Peace), the Doctor (The Nose), Banco (Macbeth), Padre Guardiano and Alcalde (La forza del destino), Ramfis (Aida), Timur (Turandot), Pope Clement VII (Benvenuto Cellini), Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Donner (Das Rheingold), Hunding (Die Walküre), Gurnemanz (Parsifal), Verdi's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, and Sofia Gubaidulina's St. John Passion.

08/07