Azad Abbasov

Born Jan. 19, 1925, in Elabuga. Soviet Tatar singer (lyric tenor). People’s Artist of the USSR (1977).

In 1950, Abbasov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, where he had studied singing under S. N. Strel’tsov. In the same year he became a soloist with the Tatar Theater of Opera and Ballet. He has performed a variety of roles, including Sinodal in Rubinstein’s The Demon, Kniazhich in Tchaikovsky’s The Sorceress, the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. He has also appeared as Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles, Sergei in Shostakovich’s Katerina Izmailova (or Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District), and Aleksei in Kholminov’s An Optimistic Tragedy. Abbasov has sung the title role in the operas Dzhalil’ by Zhiganov, Samat by Valiullin, and Faust by Gounod. He has also performed in operettas.

Abbasov received the Tukai State Prize of the Tatar ASSR in 1971.