A native of Russia said in the Opera House: “Guys, you sing in Italian, German, English… But why don’t you want to sing in your native Belarusian language?”
Павялічыць
Photo: Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus
The outstanding artist passed away on April 14 at the age of 79, reports the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus.
Uladzimir Eknadziyosau was born in the village of Alekseyevka, Rostov region, Russia, on May 8, 1947.
While a student at the Rostov Cultural and Educational College, he became the winner of the All-Union Review of Amateur Art as a balalaika soloist and earned the right to perform on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. He graduated from the Ural Conservatory (1973), worked in Sverdlovsk and Krasnoyarsk, on the stages of musical comedy theaters.
A turning point in the artist’s fate was 1977: participation in the All-Union Glinka Vocal Competition in Tashkent earned him the title of laureate. It was here, at the competition, that he was heard by the conductor of the Belarusian Opera Theatre, People’s Artist of the USSR Yaroslav Voshchak. This meeting proved fateful.
Uladzimir Eknadziyosau was invited to the Belarusian Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1978.
From 1978 to 1995, Eknadziyosau was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus, and from 2002, its director.
Upon joining the theatre, he encountered a paradoxical situation: many artists did not want to sing in Belarusian. He genuinely did not understand this: “I told our Belarusians: ‘Guys, you sing in Italian, German, English… But why don’t you want to sing in your native Belarusian language?'”
It was he who created a number of vivid characters in operas of the national repertoire: Raman (‘The Grey Legend’ by D. Smolsky), Tikhanau and Kudrautsau (‘Path of Life’), Voishalk (‘Prince of Navahrudak’), Giordano Bruno, Master (‘The Master and Margarita’ by Ya. Hlebov), Dubatouk in Soltan’s ‘The Wild Hunt,’ for the portrayal of which the artist was awarded the State Prize.
His roles also include Pierre Bezukhov, Hermann, Richard, Radames, José, Cavaradossi, Don Carlo, Duke, Alfred.