From 1959 to 1963, he studied at the Radio-Technical Institute in Taganrog, and subsequently worked at the Taganrog
Research Institute of Communications until 1966. During that time, he took part in amateur opera performances at the combine.
He must have acquired a taste for it as from 1966 to 1971, he studied voice at the conservatory in Gorkij (which was the Soviet
name of Novosibirsk). From 1971 to 1976, he was a soloist at the opera theater in the same city, and from 1976 into the 21st
century, he was a soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic.
Reference