Nikolay Baskov

Biography

Baskov studied at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music and Moscow Conservatory. In 1998, he placed first in the All-Russian Young Singers Competition and placed second in the 1999 Grande Voce competition in Spain. The same year, Nikolay Baskov was invited to the Bolshoi theatre troupe, where he performed the major arias in such operas as Yevgeni Onegin, Prince Igor, Boris Godunov, Traviata, and others.

In 2000, he recorded his debut solo album, The Dedication. The music video filmed for "In Memory of Caruso" (a cover of "Caruso" written by Lucio Dalla) was aired on Russian TV and increased his popularity. In 2001, Baskov abandoned the Bolshoi to work on his solo career. Though Baskov's repertoire consists mostly of modern arrangements of arias and romances, he performs pop music as well. Nikolay has often performed with pop artists, as well as with classical singers such as Montserrat Caballé. From July 2009 to March 2011, he dated Oxana Fedorova, the former Miss Universe.

Released in 2011, the Nikolai Baskov: Romantic Journey concert performance CD/DVD took place at Moscow's Hall of the Luzhniki Stadium. Baskov was accompanied by a full orchestra and played to an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 10,000 people. Taped with 24 HD cameras, this is Russia's most elaborate and expensive performance ever recorded for international television. He performed classic pieces from Tosca, La bohème, Werther, Turandot and other popular songs from his catalogue such as Be My Love, Granada and Back to Sorrento. Baskov is joined by world-renowned soprano, Montserrat Caballé, and her daughter Marti, for several duets.

In early 2012, Baskov embarked on his first American tour.

In December 2012, he signed an open letter against a St. Petersburg bill banning "homosexual propaganda," along with pop stars like Philipp Kirkorov and Dima Bilan.

Solo career

In 2000, the name of Nikolai Baskov became known not only to opera fans, but also to a wide audience across the country after the artist released a video for the musical composition "In Memory of Caruso". Thanks to this work, Nikolai rapidly took the top places of the Russian radio and television charts. Baskov's career has rapidly moved beyond the academic halls.

He became the first artist in Russia working in the genres of opera vocals, popular classics, pop and pop music. Nikolai's creative range is extremely wide — he successfully performs arias, romances, folk songs, foreign hits, popular works by Soviet and Russian composers, modern hits.

The year 2000 became important in the biography of Nikolai Baskov for many other reasons. In particular, he met the legend of world opera, the great soprano of the twentieth century Montserrat Caballe. The opera diva became interested in the talented young performer and invited Nikolai to perform on stage with her, and also became his mentor, helping to improve his vocal technique. Baskov became not only her student, but also a partner on the stage for several years. Their voices were heard on the famous stages of Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and other countries of the world.

In 2006, Nikolai Baskov, Montserrat Caballe and Montserrat Marti performed a concert tour of Russian cities, which was received by the public with great enthusiasm.

At the beginning of 2008, at the Northern Greece Theater, Nikolai performed the role of Canio in the opera Pagliacci, five performances in Thessaloniki were a great success. Nikolai performed the same part, but in a completely different stage incarnation of the opera, at the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg in December 2008.

Not just a singer

In 2003, Nikolai Baskov became the host of the television reality show "Dom", but due to too high employment, he was forced to stop participating in the project ahead of schedule. Since 2005, he has become a regular host of the entertainment show "Saturday Evening" on the TV channel "Russia". In 2012, he worked as a presenter in the program "Home Video of stars" on Russian MTV, and in 2015 he hosted the program "Big Little Star" on the channel "STS". In 2019, he became the host of the musical competition show "Come on, all together!" of the TV channel "Russia", which became popular and continued in 2020.

The artist has successfully proved himself as a film actor — his filmography includes more than a dozen works, including the main role in the four-part film "Turn on the Contrary", the television musicals "Cinderella", "Little Red Riding Hood", "The Snow Queen", "The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors", "Morozko", "Three Heroes", the film "Our Russia: Eggs of Destiny", the TV series "Voronins". In April 2016, the romantic comedy "#Everything!?!" was released in the Russian rental, in which Nikolai also played. In addition, he voiced the Russian-language versions of several foreign animated films: "Toy Story: The Great Escape", "Hawaiian Holidays", "Real Squirrel" and "Savva. The heart of a warrior." On the last day of December 2018, the premiere of the new musical "Cinderella" took place on the Rossiya TV channel, in which Nikolai played the role of the Golden Voice of the kingdom, and on the eve of 2020, the artist appeared as a Genie from a magic lamp in the fairy tale musical "1001 Nights, or the Territory of Love".

Bright talent, originality, lively character, gigantic efficiency, striving for new things, inexhaustible sense of humor and constant readiness for improvisation — these are the qualities that make Nikolai a popular, beloved and sought-after artist in a variety of roles.

Awards

Nikolay Baskov was awarded the honorary titles of People's Artist of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist of the Chechen Republic, People's Artist of Ingushetia. He was awarded the Highest state award of the Republic of Belarus — the Order of Francis Skaryna, the Order of the Abkhazian Republic "Honor and Glory" of the III degree and the Gold Medal of the Peace Foundation. He was awarded the title of "Master of Arts" and the "Golden Voice of Russia" National Award "Ovation". For his services in the field of culture and art, many years of fruitful work, the artist was awarded the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. For his contribution to strengthening interethnic and interfaith peace and harmony in society, he was awarded the Order of Friendship.