Consequently, Petrov was immediately enrolled to study at the Moscow Conservatory under supervision of Anton Bartzal (Russian: Антон Иванович Барцал).

[4] During and after the Russian Revolution of 1917]], he managed to retain his position at the Bolshoi Theatre due to having come from a working-class background.

From 1923, as the result of complications from having contracted malaria, both of Petrov's legs atrophied leaving him reliant on prostheses in order to walk, but this did not deter him from actively performing onstage.

His last performance was at the Bolshoi theatre in June 1936 as Vasily Sobakin in the opera The Tsar's bride by N.

Vasily Rodionovich Petrov remains for posterity as one of the greatest representatives of Russian vocal art.