Krivchenia, Aleksei Filippovich

Born July 30 (Aug. 12), 1910, in Odessa; died Mar. 10, 1974, in Moscow. Soviet Russian singer (bass); People’s Artist of the USSR (1956).

Krivchenia graduated in 1938 from the Odessa Conservatory, where he studied under V. A. Seliavin. During 1938–49 he sang at the opera houses of Voroshilovgrad, Dnepropetrovsk, and Novosibirsk. In 1949 he became a soloist of the Bolshoi Theater (Moscow). His musical and acting talent and ability to become the character helped Krivchenia create psychologically pro-found portraits. His best roles included Ivan Khovanskii in Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky (State Prize of the USSR, 1951), Konchak in Prince Igor by Borodin, Farlaf in Ruslan and Ludmila by Glinka, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville by Rossini, and the Commissar and Tkachenko in The Story of a Real Manand Semen Kotko by Prokofiev. Krivchenia also gave recitals and appeared in motion pictures. He made frequent tours abroad.