Vladislav Piavko - a famous domestic opera singer, tenor. He has the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union and Kyrgyzstan. He became famous thanks to several dozens of roles in the Bolshoi Theater in the most famous operas.
Childhood and youth
Vladislav Piavko was born in Krasnoyarsk. He was born in 1941, a few months before the start of World War II. The hero of our article grew up without a father, his mother worked in the Yenisei Zolot trust. She was a native Siberian from the Old Believers. Initially, they lived in the small village of Taiga in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and then moved to Norilsk.
Vladislav Piavko dreamed about the scene from childhood. As a result, in 1957, reaching Moscow, he decided to try his luck and try to enter the Shchepkinsky school. In parallel, he applied to the acting faculty of VGIK.
However, at the last moment, Vladislav Piavko decided that he wouldn’t be accepted anywhere anyway, and went straight from the exam to the draft board, asking him to be sent to a military school. As a result, instead of the acting career, which he had so dreamed of, he became a cadet at the artillery school in Kolomna. He graduated from Vladislav Piavko, whose photo is in this article, only in 1960.
Carmen
About six months before this, an event occurred that radically changed his whole life. Piavko accidentally ended up in the Bolshoi Theater at the performance of Carmen, in which the USSR People's Artist Irina Arkhipova and Italian tenor Mario Del Monaco played. Seen so shocked him that he was determined for himself to become an artist. As a result, it was because of this performance in 1960 that he quit the army, although he had prospects to remain in the service, moving up the career ladder.
Instead, Piavko again goes to all theatrical universities of the capital, submits documents. The hero of our article passes exams at the Shchepkinsky and Shchukinsky schools, the Moscow Art Theater School, VGIK, but fails everywhere, he is not taken. The last hope for Piavko becomes GITIS, where he enters in September 1960. Until 1965, he learns the basics of the acting profession at the Lunacharsky State Institute of Theater Arts.
The Bolshoi Theatre
Almost immediately after graduation, actor Vladislav Piavko was accepted into the internship group of the Bolshoi Theater. To do this, he had to withstand a big competition, which he did with success. His debut took place in Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, in which the main part was performed by Galina Vishnevskaya, and Piavko performed the part of Pinkerton. Already in 1966 he was officially made a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater.
Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko became very popular already in 1967, playing the part of Pinkerton. As a result, he was sent for an internship at the La Scala theater in Italy. There he studied with Enrico Piazza and Renato Pastorino. His internship lasted two years. During this time, he prepared many outstanding opera parties - Cavaradossi, Jose, Turiddu. In 1969, Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko, whose photo you will find in this article, took part in the prestigious International Vocal Competition, which was held in the Belgian city of Verviers. There he managed to perform very successfully and take third place. In the same year he made his directorial debut on the stage of the Opera House in Perm. He staged Dmitry Kabalevsky’s opera Sisters.
Tchaikovsky Competition
In 1970, Vladislav Piavko (his biography is presented in this article) took part in the fourth international competition named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In it, the hero of our article, having received the second prize, shared it with the future people's artist of the Soviet Union and the Georgian SSR Zurab Sotkilava.
Piavko’s career has developed very successfully. In 1975, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, and three years later, already a People’s Artist. Since 1980, the hero of our article has been teaching at the Lunacharsky Institute of Theater Arts for five years.
Filmography Vladislav Piavko
In 1983, Piavko, together with Yuri Rogov, participated in the creation of the film entitled “You are my enthusiasm, my torment ...” as a director and screenwriter. In the same picture, he himself played, playing the role of Nikolai Bakhtin.
In 2016, he starred in the dramatic detective series Yevgeny Zvezdakov's The Jackal. It was a plot continuation of the series "The Executioner", "Mosgaz" and "Spider". This 8-episode film talks about investigating the bold robberies of collectors and stores by bandits dressed as policemen.
Piavko played the USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov. By the way, this is a real historical character who held this responsible post from 1966 to 1982.
Guglielmo Ratcliffe
Real world fame came to Piavko in 1984 when he played the title character in Pietro Mascagni's opera Guglielmo Ratcliffe in Italian Livorno. The uniqueness also consisted in the fact that in the entire history of the opera Piavko became only the fourth tenor who did it, it was considered so complicated. For this achievement, the hero of our article was awarded a nominal gold medal. The words "Vladislav Piavko - The Great Guglielmo Rutcliffe" were carved on it. She was accompanied by a diploma from the city of Livorno and a silver medal from the Friends of the Opera Society named after the Italian opera composer Pietro Mascagni.
Farewell to the Bolshoi Theater
Piavko left the Bolshoi Theater in 1989. After that, for seven years he was a soloist at the German State Opera in Berlin. There he performed mainly in parties belonging to the Italian repertoire. At the same time he performed at the Opera Bastille in Paris. Significant for him was the international festival in Romanian Timisoara, at which he performed the part of Pollion in the famous opera of the Italian Vincenzo Bellini - "Norma".
He regularly appeared on major European opera stages. Among his partners were the most famous artists of his time - Bulgarian opera singers Raina Kabayvanska, Gena Dimitrova, Anna Tomova-Sintova. Now many recognize his great role in popularizing the domestic vocal school in the international arena, and asserting its prestige.
In 2006 he returned to the scene in honor of the 40th anniversary of his creative activity. He performed the part of Othello in the opera of the same name by Giuseppe Verdi.
Summing up his creative biography, it should be noted that the repertoire of the opera artist included only over five hundred works related to the chamber vocal genre. Among them, in addition to opera parts, there were romances by Sergei Rachmaninov, Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as parts in vocal and symphonic works. For example, in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Scriabin’s First Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem.
Outreach activities
For a long time, Piavko paid increased attention to public education activities. In 1996, he took the post of First Vice President of the Fund, Irina Arkhipova, his wife. Two years later, he became vice-president of the International Union of Musical Figures, as well as a permanent member of the organizing committee of the International Opera Festival called the Golden Crown, which is held annually in Odessa.
In 2000, he personally initiated the publishing house of the Irina Arkhipova Foundation series of books "Pearls of the world of music." The first in this series was a book about the Soviet opera singer Sergei Lemeshev. And the following year he became the first vice president of the International Union of Musical Figures.
Since 1992, Piavko has been the head of the jury of the International Lemeshev Competition, which is held in Tver. He also evaluates the participants in the Mikhail Glinka vocal competition, the Sviridov Open Vocal Music Competition, and is on the organizing committee of the Taneyev Chamber Ensemble Competition.
In 2000, the hero of our article became a professor in the solo singing department at the capital of the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky State Conservatory.
The repertoire of the artist
Piavko’s repertoire includes several dozen parties. For example, this is the Manager and German in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, the Russian warrior in Glinka’s Ivan Susanin, the young guy in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Tsar’s Bride, the messenger and Radames in Aida Verdi, Iskra and Andrey in Tchaikovsky’s Mazepa Jose in “Carmen” Bizet, Cavaradossi in “Tosca” by Puccini, Manrico in “Troubadour” Verdi, Andrei Khovansky in “Khovanshchina” by Mussorgsky, Mikhailo Tucha in “Pskovite” by Rimsky-Korsakov, Nozdrev in “Dead Souls” by Shchedrin, Grishka in "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia" by Rimsky-Korsakov, Shuisky and the Pretender in "B Rice Godunov "Mussorgsky, Vodemon in" Iolanta "by Tchaikovsky, Prince in" The Mermaid "of Dargomyzhsky, Gvidon in" The Tale of Tsar Saltan "by Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexei in" Optimistic Tragedy "by Kholminov, Sergei in" Katerina Izmailova "Shostakovich," Kukushkin The Story of a Real Man "by Prokofiev, Charles VII in the" Orleans Maiden "by Tchaikovsky, Pollion in the" Norm "by Bellini.
Personal life
The personal life of Vladislav Piavko has always interested his many fans. For several decades, the hero of our article was the husband of the People's Artist of the USSR Irina Arkhipova, she received this title in 1966.
For the wife of Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko, this marriage was the third. Her first husband is Evgeny Arkhipov. He was her classmate. In 1947, their son Andrei was born. But the joint child did not help strengthen their marriage, they soon divorced. In 1972, a grandson was born, who became the opera soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. His name was also Andrei.
The second husband of Irina was the translator Yuri Volkov. They met and became friends in Italy when Arkhipova was at the La Scala opera house for an internship. But this marriage was unsuccessful, they soon broke up.
Personal life of Vladislav Piavko with Irina Arkhipova has developed successfully. Together they lived in marriage for more than forty years. So it’s even hard for many to believe that once this alliance was not predicted any happy future.
It should be noted that the personal life, the children of Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko from the very beginning were under the scrutiny of the public. The fact is that even at the dawn of relations, they were at the center of one of the most high-profile theatrical scandals. The hero of our article fell into the confrontation between Irina Arkhipova and Galina Vishnevskaya. The wife of Vladislav herself spoke in detail about him in his biographical book "Tenor: from the chronicle of lived lives ...", which, however, was published in a very limited edition.
When their relationship was just beginning, Irina was married, and Vladislav was much younger than her, for 16 years. In 1966, she came from a long tour in America, a large number of gossip and gossip immediately fell upon her at the Bolshoi Theater. Everyone was talking about the young soloist Piavko, to whom Vishnevskaya gave the party in the premiere opera "Cio-Cio-san."
At the play to which Arkhipova came, it immediately became obvious to her that Vladislav had a brilliant voice and acting data. And at that time, Piavko himself courted Vishnevskaya. In the days when “Chio-Cio-san” was going on, his friend specially sent a huge bouquet of carnations from Riga, which he brought to the host.
Suddenly he switched to Arkhipova. He was probably encouraged by their colleague Zurab Anzhaparidze, who, as soon as Vladislav turned his attention to Irina, told him that he would definitely not succeed. The scandal erupted when Piavko participated in the rehearsal of "Carmen", where he performed the part of Jose. Arkhipova played the main role in it, but Vishnevskaya wished to get her. As a result, it was decided to organize two teams.
At the orchestra rehearsal, Vishnevskaya, who headed a special commission that assessed the suitability of the artists, categorically forbade him to sing now, wishing that he enter the new composition, in which she would be. Arkhipova was indignant at such a decision. As a result, the two primaries of the Bolshoi Theater had a big quarrel, the conversation was conducted in elevated tones. As a result, the whole world learned that the two best singers of the Bolshoi Theater had a falling out over Piavko. Vladislav ultimately got this role. He played the part of Jose brilliantly.
In the personal life of Vladislav Piavko, children played a big role. Before his union with Irina, he was also married; from his previous marriage, two sons and two daughters remained. The children of Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko were called Lyudmila, Dmitry, Victor and Vasilisa. Many of them built a career by following in the footsteps of their parents. Children of Vladislav Ivanovich Piavko continued the glorious creative dynasty.
Lyudmila Magomedova became a famous opera singer, received the title of People's Artist of Russia. Vasilisa Piavko = successful actress of the Yermolova Theater. She graduated from GITIS. On the stage, she became famous for the roles of Julie in Strindberg’s play “Freken Julie”, Eva Tempi in “The Battle of Angels” by Williams, Alice in “Leo in the Winter” by Goldman, Olga Petrovna in the “Freeloader” by Turgenev, Natalya Stepanovna in the “Proposal” by Chekhov.
She also has several television projects. She starred in commercials, television films "Way to Damascus", which appeared on the TVC channel, "Miracle Tale", which premiered on the channel "Culture".
But the sons of Piavko chose a different path for themselves. Dmitry became a computer technician, and Victor became an engineer. In marriage with Arkhipova, they did not succeed in having children.
Already remaining a widower, Piavko admitted that he was fascinated by the 18-year-old beauty. He even wanted to commit suicide when their relationship ended. At the end of one of the creative evenings at the Central House of Art Workers, a charming gypsy woman with a huge bouquet of burgundy roses appeared on the stage. Only once glancing at her, the singer was submissive. The girl's name was Verig, she was his student. For the past year and a half, she took vocal lessons from the hero of our article. However, a crazy craving between them appeared only now.
Piavko and Veriga began an incredible romance. The singer wrote poems to her at night. It all ended when their parents found out about their relationship, who imposed a categorical ban on their further relationship. Moreover, it turned out that it was not a matter of age difference, although when they met, he was 74, but a girl of 18. In fact, it turned out that her father, almost immediately after her birth, married his daughter to an influential gypsy baron. He could not break his word. Vladislav was worried about this parting.