Mark Reizen (July 3, 1895 – November 25, 1992) was a Soviet opera and chamber singer (bass) and teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1937). Winner of three Stalin Prizes of the first degree (1941, 1949, 1951).

Mark Reizen was blessed with exceptional natural talent: a powerful voice with wide range, a vivid artistic temperament, an expressive stage presence, and great dramatic talent. Mark Reizen was born in 1896 in the village of Zaitsevo in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate. His parents were both musical: his father was an excellent harmonica player, and his mother often sang Ukrainian and Russian folk songs. In 1908, the entire family moved to Lugansk, where the boy enrolled in a municipal school. A chance visit to a performance by a touring drama theatre so captivated the future singer that he never missed another performance.

In 1915, Reizen was drafted into the army and sent to the front. During the battles in Galicia and East Prussia, he was wounded and concussed, but after a short stay in hospital, he returned to service. During the war, Reizen organised a balalaika club in his squad and learned to play the mandolin himself. After returning from the front, the young man entered the Kharkov Technological Institute. Once, during a party in the university garden, when the young man was singing in a choir performing folk songs, his friends noticed that his voice stood out for its sonority and power. One of his friends, without Reizen's knowledge, registered him for the entrance exams to the Kharkov Conservatory. Called, to his surprise, from the auditorium where he was sitting as a listener, Reizen performed his entire repertoire at the suggestion of the commission: soldier songs and the romance "Coachman, don't rush the horses”. He sang the arpeggio suggested by the examiners perfectly and was accepted into the Kharkov Conservatory, enrolling in the class under Professor Bugomelli, who defined his voice as ‘basso cantante’ (melodious bass). The young singer studied so successfully at the conservatory that he was transferred to the second year in his first semester, to the third year in the spring, and to the fourth year in the autumn of 1918. The death of his father interrupted the musician's studies. He had to take on the responsibility of supporting his family and give private lessons. The storm of civil war swept across the country. Reizen often performed in army barracks at that time. In the cold, smoke-filled railway station halls, Red Army soldiers leaving for the front listened to him performing Russian and Ukrainian folk songs. In 1920, Reizen began working at the Kharkov Drama Theatre, performing episodic roles. He also continued to sing, independently mastering several opera parts, and soon debuted as an opera singer on the stage of the regimental club, successfully singing the part of Mephistopheles in ‘Faust’. At the insistence of his friends, Mark Reizen auditioned for the Kharkov Opera Theatre. The management offered him to debut in the role of Pimen in 'Boris Godunov'. He sang excellently, and on the 1^st of January 1922, he was enrolled in the theatre troupe, where he worked for three years, gaining significant experience and stage skills.

In December 1924, Reizen played the role of Mephistopheles at the Leningrad (formerly Mariinsky) Opera and Ballet Theatre and then joined the theatre troupe. There he sang the roles of Nilakantha in ‘Lakmé’, Holofernes in ‘Judith’, Grozny in ‘The Maid of Pskov’, and Boris Godunov, and at the Leningrad Small Opera Theatre he played the role of the worker Molotov in one of the first Soviet operas, ‘For Red Petrograd’. In 1929, Reizen went on tour in Western Europe, performing with great success in Berlin, Paris, and London. From the following year, he worked continuously at the Bolshoi Theatre, where he had first appeared in 1928, being a soloist of the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theatre.

The monumental figures of Russian opera classics occupy a central place in Mark Reizen repertoire. His performance of Boris Godunov role was noted for its outstanding mastery. As is well known, many Russian singers performed this role, including the great Feodor Chaliapin. Reizen worked on this part for a long time, studying historical material, books, paintings, and engravings. But above all, the singer strove for the ideological and psychological authenticity of the character.

Each character Reizen creates is endowed with striking individuality. He is the magnificent Galitsky in the Borodin's immortal opera, a mischievous and dissolute prince-predator. In the role of Melnik in ‘The Mermaid’, he achieves the highest level of drama, especially in the scene of madness. He performs the role of Farlaf in the opera ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’ with comedic brilliance, transforming from a cowardly knight into a self-confident braggart. Reizen also excels in the lyrical-heroic role of Ruslan, creating a noble stage image of a Russian warrior. Reizen's outstanding achievement is rightly considered to be his performance as Dosifey in ‘Khovanshchina’. The singer also created a number of memorable characters in the operas by Western European composers. These include, for example, Nilakantha in ‘Lakmé’ and Don Basilio in ‘The Barber of Seville’. His Mephistopheles in Faust is not a traditional ‘opera devil,’ but an intelligent sceptic who mocks bourgeois hypocrisy and sanctimony. The singer attached great importance to the expressiveness of his singing, believing that an artist should convey every word to the listener. He worked hard to shape each stage character.

Alongside his work on the opera stage, Reizen was also very active as a concert performer. His extensive chamber repertoire included more than 150 romances by Glinka, Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. He sang Russian folk songs with great passion. His chamber concerts always attracted attention for their subtle phrasing, the agility of his powerful voice, his artistic performance, and his wide emotional range, stretching from the lyricism of Borodin's masterpiece ‘For the Distant Shores of My Fatherland’ to the humour ‘Titular Councillor’ by of Dargomyzhsky.

Reizen regularly participated in symphony concerts, performing solo parts The Ninth Symphony and ‘Missa Solemnis’ by Beethoven, as well as in requiems by Mozart and Verdi. Mark Reizen enjoyed well-deserved popularity in our country and abroad.

In 1980, at the age of 85, Reizen performed the role of Boris in the opera ‘Boris Godunov’ by Mussorgsky at the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1985, at the age of 90, he performed the role of Gremin in the opera ‘Eugene Onegin’ by Tchaikovsky at the same venue.

M. Reizen died on November 25, 1992 in Moscow. He is buried at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery.

For Mark Reizen 130^th birth jubilee we have prepared a musical selection made up of opera parts and romances performed by the prominent opera singer.