Visit this artist's website: http://www.vgrishko.com.ua

The gifted Ukrainian tenor VLADIMIR GRISHKO began his singing career at age seven with a boys' choir as soloist, performing on TV and radio and traveling with the group. Then he was educated at the Glière State Music College in Kiev, the Tchaikovsky Kiev State Conservatory, and the graduate program with the Tchaikovsky Kiev State Conservatory. Grishko is a winner of many awards and competitions including the Grand Prize, International Vocalists Competition (Toulouse, 1990), promotion to people's artist of Ukraine (1996), and the National Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko Award for representation of Ukraine in the world of music. Grishko is a Knight of the Order of the Saint Prince Vladimir (2001).

Grishko made his U.S. debut in 1990 as Alfredo (La traviata) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Other American engagements have included Alfredo with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Detroit Opera, Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera Theater, and Canadian Opera Company; Rodolfo (La bohème) with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and New Orleans Opera; Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) with the Metropolitan Opera, the Cincinnati Opera, the Washington Opera, and Houston Grand Opera; Duke (Rigoletto), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ruggero (La Rondine), and Vladimir Igorevich (Prince Igor) with New York City Opera; Faust (Faust) with the Shreveport Opera; Ivan Lykov (The Tsar's Bride) with the Washington Opera; Andrei Khovansky (Khovanshchina) with the Metropolitan Opera; and Macduff (Macbeth) with New York City Opera.

In Europe Vladimir Grishko has been a leading tenor for several seasons with the Kirov Opera under the direction of Maestro Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg; he has sung Lykov, Don José (Carmen), and Alfredo with the company. His other European engagements have included Alfredo with Opéra de Paris-Bastille, Prague State Opera, Czech National Theater, and Kiev Opera; Rodolfo, and Prince (Rusalka) with the Czech National Theater, which was recorded on the BVA International label; Paolo (Francesca da Rimini) with the Dresden Opera; Lensky (Eugene Onegin) with Valencia Opera, Kiev Opera, Trier Theater, and Opéra Royal de Wallonie; Ismaele (Nabucco) with Arena di Verona, Opera-Frankfurt, and Bregenz Festival; and Duke (Rigoletto) with Prague State Opera.

Grishko's orchestral repertoire includes Verdi's Requiem with Kirov Opera and Kiev; Tchaikovsky's Snow Maiden with Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Franck's Die Sieben Worte, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, and Puccini's Messa di Gloria with Kiev Opera; and Tchaikovsky songs with the Bard Festival in New York. Vladimir Grishko has sung many solo concerts in Europe and U.S. Whenever he is in Kiev, he can be found on Saturday and on Sunday in the choir loft of Kiev's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir.

Grishko's recordings include Tchaikovsky's The Snow Maiden with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Chandos), in addition to several solo recordings of Italian arias, Russian and Ukrainian folk songs, and Italian and Spanish songs. In January 2002 Naxos released his Russian Arias CD.

04/07