Bogdan Volkov
Bogdan Volkov is a Ukrainian-born operatic tenor who made an international career. He was named Singer of the Year 2025 by the German magazine Opernwelt and won the second prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia, The World Opera Competition in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 and came in first place at the Paris Opera Competition in 2015 and. In 2025 he was also nominated for the International Opera Awards in the Readers’ Award category. Based in Germany, he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera and leading opera houses of Europe.
Biography
Born in Ukraine, Volkov studied at the R. Glier Kyiv Institute of Music and the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music where he graduated. He was a member of the opera studio of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow from 2013 to 2015, making his debut as Lykow in Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride. Volkov received the First Prize and Audience Prize at the Paris Opera Competition in 2015, and Second Prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition in 2016.Volkow was a member of the ensemble of the Bolshoi from 2016 to 2018, performing roles including Myshkin in Weinberg's The Idiot. He made his debut at the Berlin State Opera in 2019, as Don Antonio in Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He was a member of the ensemble in 2022 and 2023.
Volkov has performed regularly at the Bavarian State Opera, in 2021 as Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, followed by Lenski in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata, and Mozart roles Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.
Bogdan appeared in the United States first at the Metropolitan Opera in 2018 as Tybalt in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Palm Beach Opera and as Tamino at the Los Angeles Opera in 2019.
Volkov has performed in The Tale of Tsar Saltan at La Monnaie in Brussels and as Lenski at the Vienna State Opera, both directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. He appeared as Ferrando at the 100th Salzburg Festival, directed by Christof Loy, at La Scala in Milan in 2021 and at the Royal Opera House.
The summer of 2024 was marked by his acclaimed portrayal of Prince Myshkin in the multiawarded premiere of Weinberg’s The Idiot, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, at the Salzburg Festival. For this role, he was nominated for the Austrian Music Theatre Prize, named Discovery of the Year and awarded Best Vocal Performance by the German magazine, and recognized as Singer of the Year by Opernwelt.