Dimitri Andreevich Usatov by Photography of Imperial Theatres in Mariinsky Theatre

Dimitri Andreevich Usatov
February 22, 1847 - August 23, 1913
Russian tenor .

He studied music with Camille Everardi at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory , He began his career in Kiev and continued in Kazan. There he received the offer of an audition from Edward Napravink , Music Director of the Marinsky Theatre in St Petersburg .His actual debut on the Imperial Stage , however took place at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1880 where he remained until 1889. During this period he sang Faust in "Faust" , Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto" ,Raoul in "les Huguenots" ,Lionel in "Martha" There he creted the role of Lensky in "Eugene Onegin" in 1881 and the role of Andrei in" Mazeppa" in 1884 Vakula "Cherevichki" in 1887.After retiring from stage he taught singing in Tbilisi, ( his most famous pupil was Feodor Chaliapin),Usatov moved to Yalta in 1902

Usatov had a good relationship with the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In addition to the operas already mentioned, he performed songs by Tchaikovsky for the Russian Music Society in 1877, 1880 and 1882. At Usatov's request, Tchaikovsky orchestrated one of the songs from his Opus 54, "16 Children's Songs." In 1884, Tchaikovsky dedicated a song from his Opus 57, "Six Songs," to Usatov.