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Feodor Chaliapin as Boris Godunov in an opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky.

This a list of opera singers from Russian Federation, Soviet Union and Russian Empire including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities. This list as well includes those, who was born in the  Russian Federation/ Soviet Union/ Russian Empire but later emigrated, and those, who was born elsewhere but immigrated to the country and performed there for a long time.

Opera came to Russia in the 18th century. At first there were mostly Italian language operas presented by Italian opera troupes. Later some foreign composers serving to the Russian Imperial Court began to write Russian-language operas, while some Russian composers were involved into writing of the operas in Italian and French. Only at the beginning of 1770s the first modest attempts of the composers of Russian origin to compose operas to the Russian librettos were made. The 19th century was the golden age of Russian opera, with such prominent composers as Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Aleksandr Borodin and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. Their traditions were carried on to the 20th century by Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres continue to be the main opera and ballet scenes of Russia and one of the most prominent in the world.

A number of Russian opera singers rose to fame already in the 18th century, but it was the late 19th and the 20th centuries that saw the appearance of many world-renown, well-remembered and still popular soloists, including Leonid Sobinov, Galina Vishnevskaya and, of course, Feodor Chaliapin, the greatest bass of all time. Nowadays Russia is represented at the world scene with such stars as Dmitry Hvorostovsky and Anna Netrebko.

For the full plain list of Russian opera singers in Wikipedia, see Category:Russian opera singers.

See also: Alexandrov Ensemble soloists, List of Russian ballet dancers, List of Russian composers, List of Russian language writers, List of Russian artists, List of Russian architects, List of Russian inventors, List of Russian explorers, Russian culture

Alphabetical list

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Portrait	Person	Details	Stage Image
	Feodor Chaliapin (1873–1938)  Russian Empire  France bass	The most famous Russian opera singer of the 20th century. The possesor of a large and expressive bass voice, he is often credited with establishing the tradition of naturalistic acting in his chosen art form. Mephistopholes in Gounod's Faust, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Boito's Mefistofele, Ivan the Terrible in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, Massenet's Don Quichotte, Philip II in Verdi's Don Carlos, Glinka's Ivan Susanin, Khan Konchak in Borodin's Prince Igor	Chaliapin as Boito's Mefistofele, 1916

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