Dmitry Golovnin

Mariinsky Theatre Guest Soloist

Dmitry Golovnin was born in 1971. In 1997 he graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory (trumpet class of Yuri Bolshiyanov).

Was a soloist with the trumpet section of the St Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra, a trainee with the brass section of the Mariinsky Orchestra and a member of the Neva Brass ensemble. At the age of twenty-seven he began to take singing lessons from Stanislav Bureyev, a soloist with the St Petersburg Musorgsky State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2001 Dmitry Golovnin became an occasional student at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, where he undertook his first role – that of Boni (Silva (Die Csárdásfürstin)). Studied under William Workman, Franz Grundheber, Virgilijus Kęstutis Noreika, Elena Obraztsova and Badri Maisuradze.

In the 2003–04 season he performed the roles of Don José (Carmen, the Theater Lübeck and a festival in Seville) and Lionel (Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond, the Theater Solingen). From 2005 to 2007 the singer was a soloist with the St Petersburg Chamber Opera.
Joined the opera company of the Mikhailovsky Theatre in 2007. His repertoire includes the roles of Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Vladimir Igorevich (Prince Igor), Ivan Lykov (The Tsar’s Bride), Albert (The Miserly Knight), Paolo and Dante (Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini), Herman (The Queen of Spades), Count Vaudémont (Iolanta), Alfredo Germont (La traviata), Mario Cavaradossi (Tosca), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana), Canio (Pagliacci), the Prince (Dvořák’s Rusalka), Gustavo (Un ballo in maschera), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Boris (The Storm, based on Janáček’s opera Káťa Kabanová), Radamès (Aida) and Don José. Has taken part in the company’s tours to Japan and Estonia.
Has appeared at the Theater Lübeck (Paco in de Falla’s La vida breve, Macduff in Macbeth and Turiddu), the Komische Oper Berlin (the Artist in Neuwirth/Berg’s American Lulu (production staged by Kirill Serebrennikov), Max in Der Freischütz and Agrippa von Nettesheim in The Fiery Angel), the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (Albert in The Miserly Knight and Dante in Francesca da Rimini by Rachmaninoff), the Vlaamse Opera (Flemish Opera) in Antwerp (Prince Andrei Khovansky in Khovanshchina and the title role in von Zemlinsky’s opera Der König Kandaules, production staged by Andriy Zholdak), the Latvian National Opera (Don José), the Opernhaus Zürich (Agrippa von Nettesheim and Mephistopheles in The Fiery Angel, production staged by Calixto Bieito), the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka), the Opéra national de Paris and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (the Pretender in Boris Godunov), the Theater Basel and the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (Alexei in The Gambler), the Opéra de Lyon (Šapkin in Janáček’s Z mrtvého domu (From the House of the Dead)), the Theater an der Wien (Charles VII in The Maid of Orleans), Oper Frankfurt (Sergei in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) and at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland (Federico in Cilea’s L’arlesiana). In 2013 he took part in the world premiere of Weinberg’s opera The Idiot (complete version) at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, performing the role of Prince Myshkin. In 2016 he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia as Don Juan (Dargomyzhsky’s The Stone Guest); has also portrayed Sergei (Katerina Izmailova (a later version of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk)), Andrei (Mazepa), Don José and the Pretender there. In December 2022 the artist sang the last of these parts at the Teatro alla Scala.

In 2013 Dmitry Golovnin made his vocal debut at the Mariinsky Theatre, singing the role of Macduff in Macbeth (concert performance), and in 2021 he took part for the first time in the theatre’s production, appearing as Alexei in The Gambler (staged by Temur Chkheidze).

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre:
Herman (The Queen of Spades)
Alexei (The Gambler)
Macduff (Macbeth, concert performance)

In 2014, for the role of Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, he received the St Petersburg City Government Prize for Culture and was nominated for Russia’s Golden Mask National Theatre Award.
Information for December 2024