Olenin, Petr Sergeevich

Born 1874 in the village of Istomino, Riazan’ Province; died Jan. 28, 1922, in Petrograd. Russian baritone and opera director.

Olenin graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University in 1896; he also studied singing. From 1898 to 1900 he performed in the Moscow Private Russian Opera, from 1900 to 1903 at the Bolshoi Theater, and from 1904 to 1915 at the Zimin Opera Theater, where he was director at the same time. From 1915 to 1918 he was director of the Bolshoi Theater, and from 1918 to 1921 he worked at the Petrograd Theater of Opera and Ballet. Olenin sang mainly character roles, such as Pisar’ in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night and Petr in Serov’s The Power of Evil. He was also known for his performance of Boris in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Among the productions he staged were Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or (1909) and The Tsar’s Bride (1916) and Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1909).