Leonid Anatolyevich Smetannikov - opera singer, laureate of the State Prize of the RSFSR, awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of Friendship and the Order of Reverend Seraphim for many years of work in the field of art. He also has a Gold Medal of the All-Russian Exhibition Center for success in creative activity.
Leonid Smetannikov was also awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and Honored Artist of the RSFSR. This was the first stage in his creative biography; over the years, he also became a People's Artist of the USSR.
It was very difficult to get such high awards at that time - you had to go through many commissions and approvals in order to receive at least some kind of title or award. In addition, there was a strict censorship of the performed works, and all ministers of art were obliged to follow it.
If an artist achieved great success under such restrictions, it means that he had an undeniable talent and great hard work.
Biography
Leonid Anatolyevich was born in 1943 in a village with a strange name Ferschampenoise in the Chelyabinsk region. His parents were from Dneprodzerzhinsk, but the war forced them to leave for the South Urals. There Lesha spent the early years of his childhood.
After the war, the head of the family came for his wife and son, and they returned to their native Dnipropetrovsk region.
There Lesha was placed in a kindergarten, and he immediately became the lead singer of the children's choir - his sonorous voice could be heard throughout the building when classes were going on. And when he went to school, it was already clear that he had the best voice in the entire school choir.
Despite the obvious vocal abilities, the graduate of the school did not dare to get the education of a musician. After leaving school, Leonid entered an industrial technical school. He received the specialty of an electrical technician, and as a young specialist was hired to work at the metallurgical plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk.
That year, Lesha realized that he still wanted to connect his life with music, and everyone around him told him about it. In 1962, he decided to take an important step in his life - he went to Dnepropetrovsk to enroll in a music school as a vocalist.
Within these walls Smetannikov understood for the first time what it means to sing professionally. Before that, he simply sang for the soul, for friends, and now serious work has begun on the voice and on the repertoire. These were not easy years, but the love of singing helped to overcome all difficulties. Creativity is a kind of adrenaline, and once you've gotten a dose of this hormone, it's hard to give it up.
Even the fact that it was very difficult financially did not prevent him: there was not enough money for the most necessary things. Therefore, the young man studied during the day, and in the evenings he worked as an illuminator in the Palace of Culture. However, many students lived this way.
Immediately after the Dnepropetrovsk school, Leonid went to Saratov to enter the famous L. V. Sobinov. His teacher was Alexander Ivanovich Bystrov, a talented singer and teacher, from whose class many brilliant opera singers came out.
In Saratov, history repeated itself: in the afternoon there was study, in the evenings - work. However, now, as they say in the novels, “he was led by a star,” and no difficulties could prevent him from becoming an excellent singer. Leonid persistently and systematically developed his own timbre, first in the range of dramatic baritone, and later - lyric.
Opera singer career
There were many good singers at the Sobinov Conservatory, but few were invited to the Opera and Ballet Theater in Saratov. Among these few was the novice singer Leonid Smetannikov. He proved himself well in the creative team, and a year later he was assigned a serious role in the production of The Queen of Spades, although he was only in his third year.
Over time, Leonid Anatolyevich developed his own creative credo. It sounds like this: "To give joy to people."The writer Alexander Demchenko called this book about the life of the singer Smetannikov. But this will be later, but for now - new parts in operas and the continuation of work with the voice. As the singer himself said: "The fight with the voice and for the voice."
In the Saratov theater, Leonid Anatolyevich performed many different roles, while studying with Bystrov and other teachers. And then the time came for passing the exams, which were accepted by the State Commission. Smetannikov passed this test perfectly and finally strengthened his position in the troupe of the Saratov Opera.
And a new life began, filled with participation in performances, concerts, new meetings and the joys of communicating with fans and spectators.
There were victories in creative competitions, high awards, performances on the best stages of the country and abroad, television programs on this path.
All this resulted in almost a thousand concerts - Leonid Anatolyevich worked almost without interruption, speaking with the propaganda team in the field, in the Kremlin Palace and on the TV show "Blue Light".
In his biography there are awards at prestigious competitions in the USSR and abroad. And since 1977, Smetannikov became a teacher at the conservatory where he once studied, in 1989 he became a professor at the department of academic singing.
He has solo albums with recordings of romances, arias and various songs, and he also performed roles in three musical films.
Personal life
Leonid met his first wife, Vika, in Dnepropetrovsk, at a music school. Together they moved to Saratov, where their son Stas was born. Now he has his own children - Smetannikov's grandchildren.
The second wife of Leonid Anatolyevich Zinaida Ivanovna is also an opera singer, as well as his personal strict critic. The couple live in Saratov.
