Born in Dmitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region. In 200l, he completed his studies at the Kazan Conservatory (Galina Lastovka‘s class). While still a second-year student, he took part in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi‘s Requiem at the Tartar Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
In 2001, he joined the Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company as soloist.

Repertory at the Bolshoi Theatre

King Rene (Iolanta)
Khan Konchak (Igor Borodin‘s Prince Igor)
Title Role (Boris Godunov)
Zaccaria (Nabucco)
Gremin (Eugene Onegin)
Banquo (Macbeth)
Dosifey (Khovanshchina)

Also in his repertory are:
Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos)
Dosifey, Ivan Khovansky (Khovanshchina)
The Miller (Alexander Dargomyzhsky‘s Rusalka)
Sobakin (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov‘s The Tsar‘s Bride)
Old Gypsy (Sergei Rakhmaninov‘s Aleko)
Colline (La Boheme)
Title Role (Giuseppe Verdi‘s Attila)
Monterone, Sparafucile (Rigoletto)
Ramfis (Aida)
Philip (Don Carlos)
Title Role (Arrigo Boito‘s Mefistofele);

Tours

Mikhail Kazakov has an active concert life; he has appeared at the following, among other, prestigious venues in Russia and Europe: the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonia, the Maryinsky Theatre, the Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Koncertgebau and Karee Hall (Amsterdam), the Megaron Concert Hall (Athens), the UNESCO Concert Hall (Paris), the Concert Hall of the European Parliament (Strasbourg). In 2003, he sang the part of Zaccaria (Nabucco) at New Israel Opera, Tel-Aviv. In 2004, he made his Vienna Staatsoper debut as the Comendatore in Don Giovanni (conductor Seiji Ozawa). In September 2004, he sang the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos) at Dresden Staatsoper.
In November 2004, at the invitation of Placido Domingo, he sang Ferrando in Il Trovatore at Washington National Opera. In December 2004, he sang Gremin (Eugene Onegin) and in May-June 2005 - Ramfis (Aida) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf).

Awards

From 1999-2002, he was a prize-winner at several international competitions: the Elena Obraztsova Competition of Young Opera Singers (2nd prize), the Glinka Competition (Grand Prix), the Competition for Singers in Toulouse (Grand Prix), the Maria Callas Competition of Singers in Athens (2nd prize), the Tchaikovsky Competition (1st prize), Opera Singers Competition in Peking (1st prize). In 2002, he won the Irina Arkhipova Fund prize.
In 2003, he was awarded the title of People‘s Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Discography