In his opera The Oprichnik, Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote the part of Fyodor Basmanov for a low female voice — mezzo-soprano or contralto. At the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre on March 22, this role will be performed by the high male voice singer - countertenor Vadim Volkov.

It was him who, by means of singing and acting, created the image of Andrei Morozov, the young cynical friend of the main character at the premiere of The Oprichnik in January 2023. His performance aroused great interest among spectators.

“The part is not easy, but for me it makes no difference who sings, a woman or a man. The main thing here is vocal skill. Either you can sing or you can't. And I feel comfortable singing this part,” Vadim Volkov commented on his work in an interview.

Vadim graduated from the Faculty of Music Theatre (workshop of Dmitri Bertman) of the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS),  He made his debut as an opera singer in 2014 performing the role of Orestes in Offenbach’s operetta La Belle Hélène on the stage of the Moscow theatre Helikon-Opera; he also performed in Moscow concert halls. Between 2016 and 2018, he was an artist of the Youth Opera Programme of the Bolshoi Theatre; he underwent an internship at the La Scala Theatre Academy in Milan. As an artist of the Youth Opera Programme, he worked on European stages (in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy) and in Russia. In 2020, he performed the role of Nezhata in the premiere series of performances of the opera Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov (conducted by Timur Zangiev, directed by Dmitri Chernyakov) at the Bolshoi Theatre; in 2021 - Ruggiero in the opera Alcina by Handel in Italy; he debuted as Basmanov at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

In addition to operas and operettas, Vadim Volkov’s repertoire includes songs, romance art songs, and concert arias by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Mendelssohn, Borodin, and other composers. Experts define his voice as a mezzo-soprano countertenor.