Biography

Ivan Kozlovsky was born on March 24, 1900 in the village of Maryanovka not far from Kiev. The first musical impressions in the life of Ivan were associated with his father, who sang beautifully and played the Viennese harmonica. The boy developed an early passion for music and singing, he had an exceptional ear for music and a naturally trained beautiful voice.

Being still a teenager, Ivan began singing in the choir of the Troitsky Folk House in Kiev. Very soon, Kozlovsky became the soloist of the Bolshoi Academic Choir, led by the famous composer and choirmaster Alexander Koshetz, who became the first teacher and professional mentor of a talented singer. It was on the recommendation of Koshetz in 1917, that Kozlovsky entered the Kiev Musical and Drama Institute at the vocal faculty, in the class of Professor Olena Muravyova.

Having graduated with honours from the institute in 1920, Ivan signed on the Red Army. He was deployed on the 22^nd rifle brigade of engineering troops and sent to Poltava. Having received permission to combine service with concert performing, Kozlovsky participated in productions of the Poltava Musical Drama Theater. This was where Kozlovsky was shaping up as an opera artist. His repertoire included arias from “Natalka-Poltavka” and “May Night” by Lysenko, “Eugene Onegin”, “Demon”, “Dubrovsky”, “Halka” by Stanisław Moniuszko, such detail-oriented and technically complicated parts as Faust, Alfred (“La Traviata "), Duke ("Rigoletto”).

In 1924, the singer entered the Kharkov Opera Theater troupe, where he was invited by its director Ariy Pazovsky. The brilliant debut in “Faust” and subsequent performances allowed the young artist to take the leading position in the troupe. A year later, having rejected a tempting and very honourable invitation from the famous Mariinsky Theater, the artist arrived to the Sverdlovsk Opera House. In 1926, the name of Kozlovsky first appeared on Moscow posters. In Moscow, the singer debuted on the second stage of the Bolshoi Theater as Alfred in “La Traviata”.

Kozlovsky came to the Bolshoi Theater not as a debutant, but as a proficient opera singer.

1927, Kozlovsky sang the Holy Fool, the role that became the pinnacle in the singer’s creative biography and a true masterpiece in the world of opera. Since then, the singer sang and played on the opera stage about fifty of the most diverse roles.

In 1938, the State Opera Ensemble of the USSR was created at the initiative of V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko under the art direction of Kozlovsky. Such famous singers as Maria Maksakova, Ivan Patorzhinsky, Maria Litvinenko-Volgemut and Ivan Petrov worked there; Antonina Nezhdanova and Nikolai Golovanov were the consultants. Over the three years of the Ensemble existence, Ivan Sergeyevich developed a number of interesting opera productions in concert: “Werther” by Jules Massenet, “Pagliacci” by Ruggero Leoncavallo, “Orfeo” by Christoph Gluck, “Mozart and Salieri” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, "Katerina" by Mykola Arkas, "Gianni Schicchi" by Giacomo Puccini.

During the Great Patriotic war, Kozlovsky as a member of concert brigades performed for the soldiers and gave concerts in liberated cities.

In the post-war period, in addition to performing as a soloist, Ivan Kozlovsky continued to work as a producer – he staged several operas.

From the very beginning of his creative career, Kozlovsky invariably combined the opera stage with the concert one. Hundreds of compositions were in his concert repertoire – cantatas by Bach, the Beethoven’s cycle “To the Far Beloved”, the cycle “Poet's Love” by Schumann, Ukrainian and Russian folk songs. Romances occupied a special place in his repertoire; among the authors were Glinka, Taneyev, Rachmaninoff, Dargomyzhsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai Medtner, Grechaninov, Varlamov, Pyotr Bulakhov and Gurilyov.

Throughout his artistic life, Kozlovsky remained enthusiastic towards performing folk songs. Ivan Kozlovsky sang Ukrainian songs that were dear to his heart with sincerity and warmth. He interpreted them as real poems, the stories of a lifetime.

Moreover, in declining years, the singer did not reduce his creative activity. Not a single significant event in the life of the country was complete without participation of Kozlovsky. On the initiative of the singer, a music school was opened in his hometown in Maryanivka. Ivan Kozlovsky enthusiastically worked with young vocalists, performed with the student choir.
Ivan Kozlovsky died on December 24, 1993.

Based on the revised texts from the popular science publication "Hundred of Great Vocalists"; LLC Publishing house "Veche", Moscow