Boris Shtokolov

In 1949, he entered the Ural State Conservatory in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), but wanted to become a military pilot.

In 1959, he was invited to the Kirov Theater in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) where he gained world fame as a leading soloist from 1959 to 1989.

At the Kirov Theater he sang a great number of roles, such as Ruslan, Don Basilio, Boris Godunov, Ivan Susanin, the title role in Anton Rubinstein's The Demon, Prince Gremin, Mefistofele, and many others.

He died on 6 January 2005 in St. Petersburg, and was buried at the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkovo Cemetery.

Boris Shtokolov was also a prominent theorist of opera singing and breathing techniques.