Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Russian-born Viktor Antipenko, praised for his effortless, expansive sound, and excellent technique, continues to sing leading roles to great acclaim and has become a tenor to watch in the dramatic repertoire. During the 2020/21 Season, Antipenko was scheduled to sing the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal with Canadian Opera Company; Prince Vsevolod Yuryevich in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh with Chicago Opera Theater; and the role of Don José in Bizet’s Carmen with Arizona Opera a return to Theater Dortmund to sing Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Still in the calendar for spring will be Comte Vaudémont in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the New National Theatre Tokyo of Japan. Last season he sang Prince Guidon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel at Dallas Opera; the title role in Samson et Dalila at Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck; Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio with Theater Chemnitz; Gabriele Adorno in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra with Tiroler Landestheater; Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre for Theater Chemnitz; Don José in a semi-staged concert version at Lotte Concert Hall in South Korea; and he was scheduled to cover the role of Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera before the pandemic forced its cancellation.

Previous roles also include Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Hermann (Pique Dame), Andrey (Mazeppa), Enzo Grimaldo (La Gioconda), Luigi (Il Tabarro), Grigori (Boris Godunov), Riccardo (Oberto), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), and the title roles in Wagner’s Parsifal and Lohengrin. Antipenko has sung at the Bolshoi Theatre, Ópera de Oviedo, Opéra de Rouen, Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, Opéra de Lyon, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and Hawaii Opera Theater. On the concert stage, he has appeared as the tenor soloist in Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with The Philadelphia Orchestra; Shostakovich’s Jewish Folk Poetry at the Staatstheater Kassel; Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus with the New York Metamorphoses Orchestra; Stravinsky’s Les Noces at the Grand Philharmonie Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia; and at the Heidelberger Schlossfestspiele Musikfestival in an “Hommage a Sevilla” gala performance. Antipenko has worked with esteemed conductors Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Jurowski, Yuri Bashmet, John Neschling, Yuri Temirkanov, as well as with stage directors Peter Konwitschny and Tomer Zvulun.

Antipenko studied voice and choral conducting at the Glinka Choral College in St. Petersburg. After graduation he joined the Mariinsky Theatre, performing as a choral and solo artist. In 2007 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. From 2009-2012 he studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia with Bill Schuman.