Maksim Mikhailov

Born Aug. 13 (25), 1893, in the village of Kol’tsovka, in present-day Vurnary Raion, Chuvash ASSR; died Mar. 30, 1971, in Moscow. Soviet Russian bass. People’s Artist of the USSR (1940).

Mikhailov, who had sung in church choirs ever since he was a child, was a well-known archdeacon in Omsk (1918–21) and Kazan (1922–23). He studied singing under F. A. Oshustovich in Kazan and under V. V. Osipov in Moscow (1924—30). From 1930 to 1932, Mikhailov was a soloist at the All-Union Radio Committee in Moscow. Between 1932 and 1956 he was a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR.

Mikhailov had a deep and powerful voice with a broad range; his lower register was smooth and full. Mikhailov’s roles included Ivan Susanin in Glinka’s opera of the same name, Konchak in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Pimen in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Chub in Tchaikovsky’s Cherevichki (State Prize of the USSR, 1942), and General Listnitskii in Dzerzhinskii’s The Quiet Don. He also made appearances singing Russian folk songs and acted in films. Beginning in 1951, Mikhailov toured abroad. A recipient of the State Prize of the USSR in 1941, he was also awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.