Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Ukrainian-born American baritone Aleksey Bogdanov continues to establish himself as one of the most compelling performers of his generation. Bogdanov’s 2022/23 Season includes returns to Maryland Lyric Opera for Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Odyssey Opera for a trio of one-act Rachmaninoff operas, and a debut with San Diego Symphony in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Last season, he made his debut at The Metropolitan Opera as Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov. Other engagements last season included a debut with Nashville Opera as Rigoletto and a debut at the Royal Swedish Opera as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West.

In the 2020/21 Season, Bogdanov appeared as Rigoletto with Central City Opera, Scarpia in Tosca with Austin Opera, and Crespel in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

In the 2019/20 Season, he appeared as Pasha Seid in Il corsaro at the 15th-annual "Chopin and his Europe" Festival, Amonasro in Aida with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Scarpia in Tosca with Hawaii Opera Theatre. Additionally, he returned to Tulsa Opera as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Chicago Opera Theater as Beck Weathers in Everest and the title role of Aleko. Concert appearances included Schoenberg Gurre-Lieder with KBS Symphony Orchestra, Verdi Requiem with the Colorado Symphony, and Handel's Messiah with the Richmond Symphony.

In the 2018/19 Season, he returned to Washington National Opera as Lt. Horstmayer in Silent Night and covered Scarpia in Tosca and the title role in Eugene Onegin. Additionally, he made his debut with Maryland Lyric Opera as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West and Chicago Opera Theater as Starbuck in Moby Dick.

In the 2017/18 Season, he made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony as Andrei Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Additionally, he appeared with Arizona Opera as Scarpia in Tosca, Sarasota Opera as Sebastiano in d'Albert's rarely-heard Tiefland, Lionel in Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orléans with Odyssey Opera in Boston, Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Opera North in New Hampshire, and covered the title role in Demon with Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

In the 2016/17 Season, he made his role debut as Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West with Opera Carolina, Scarpia in Tosca with Opera North, Demon with Commonwealth Lyric Theater, Escamillo in La tragédie de Carmen with Colorado Music Festival, Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles with Tulsa Opera, and Vitellius in Hérodiade with Washington Concert Opera.

In the 2015/16 Season, he appeared with Washington National Opera as Escamillo in Carmen, Peter in Hansel and Gretel, created Governor George Wallace in the revised version of Appomattox, and covered Donner and Gunther in Francesca Zambello's Ring Cycle. Praised as "pitch-perfect" by The Washington Post, his many roles in over 100 performances with WNO from 2009 to 2016 include Mozart’s Figaro, Don Giovanni and Guglielmo, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Silvano in Un ballo in maschera, and the Jailer in Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Bogdanov made a last-minute debut at The Glimmerglass Festival as Escamillo in Carmen to great acclaim, and he has appeared in this signature role with The Atlanta Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Columbus Symphony Orchestra. He returned to The Glimmerglass Festival as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Samuel Griffiths in Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. He also appeared in the US premiere of Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness with Opera Parallèle.

Other career highlights include his Canadian debut as Eugene Onegin with Edmonton Opera, and his Carnegie Hall debut as Bass Soloist in Handel's Messiah. He has been featured as a soloist in Mozart's Requiem at Place des Arts in Montréal, Beethoven's Fidelio with National Symphony Orchestra, Barber's A Hand of Bridge with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Romancero Gitano at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Teatro Baretti di Torino, Dvořák's Te Deum and Janáček's Glagolitic Mass at Basilica of the National Shrine, and the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé at the Washington National Cathedral. He has performed at the United States Supreme Court and CIA Headquarters, and he has sung the national anthem for the San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals.

Born in 1983 in Odessa, Ukraine, Bogdanov immigrated to San Francisco in 1992. He made his professional debut in 2008 with OTSL in William Walton's Troilus and Cressida. He is an alumnus of Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, Indiana University, and University of California Santa Cruz. He is a grand prize winner of the Florida Grand Opera Competition, a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Awards, and a Career Grant recipient from The Sullivan Foundation, The Shoshana Foundation, Pasadena Opera Guild, and San Francisco Opera Merola Program.