Tarashchenko was born in Kyrgyzstan on 5 August 1947.
When he finished the Lviv Music School,
Tarashchenko entered
the Chajkovskij Conservatory in Moscow, where he studied
with Gugo Tits. He graduated from the
conservatory in 1979.
In 1982, he won the 2nd prize at the International Ferenc Erkel and Zoltan Kodaly Vocalist Competition, Budapest, and the prize for
the interpretation of an Erkel work in Hungarian.
1982–83, he further studied in Milano with Giulietta
Simionato, so as to perfect his interpretative skills.
From 1978 to 1992, Tarashchenko was a leading soloist
of the Moscow Academic Stanislavskij Nemirovich-Danchenko
Musical Theater. There he sang with conductors such as
Mikhail Jurovskij and Dmitrij Kitaenko and collaborated with
directors Lev Mikhajlov and Harry Kupfer.
From 1992 to 2015, Tarashchenko
sang at the Bolshoj.
His Bolshoj repertory included: German, Vodemon, Beppo, Andrej (Mazepa), Turiddu, Vladimir (Knjaz Igor), Lenskij,
Grigorij, Shujskij , Radames, Paolo (Francesca da Rimini by Rachmaninoff), Young gypsy (Aleko). Cavaradossi, Ismaele, Calaf,
Grishka Kuterma, ... In 1995, he took part in the premiere of the first Bolshoj production of Dmitrij Shostakovich's version of
Khovanshchina (conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, director Boris Pokrovskij), singing the part of Andrej Khovanskij.
From 1993, Tarashchenko made guest appearances in leading opera houses. For instance, he sang
Grigorij at the Teatro Comunale, Firenze (conductor Vladimir Fedoseev, title role – Ruggero Raimondi,
Marina – Olga Borodina); he sang the same role in Paris, with Paata Burchuladze; in Nice, with Raimondi again;
in San Sebastián, with Evgenij Nesterenko and Ljudmila Shemchuk.
At the Vienna State Opera, he appeared in Cavalleria rusticana on 25 March 1994. At the Teatro Comunale,
Firenze, he also sang the premiere of Skazka o tsare Saltane/The tale of Tsar Saltan (1997, Gvidon).
He sang Calaf at the Dresden State Opera.
In the 1998/99 season, he appeared at the festival in Montpellier, in Mascagni's Parisina.
In 2000, he sang
German for the Welsh National Opera (conductor Vladimir Jurovskij, director Richard Jones). He later sang that role at Covent Garden
at the Norwegian Opera Oslo (2001), at the Lyon Opéra (2003), at the Monnaie (2005).
In 2005, he sang Otello and German at La Scala, Otello at the Glyndebourne Festival and, the next year, he was
Grigorij at the Monte Carlo Opera.
In 2007, he sang Agrippa of Nettesheim (Ognennyj angel/The fiery angel) at
the Monnaie (conductor Kazushi Ono, director Richard Jones).
His recordings include: Iolanta (Ricordi, 1994), Aleko (Le Chant du Monde, 1994),
Francesca da Rimini (Russian Season, 1994), Majskaja noch (Russian Season, 1995), Pikovaja dama
(Relief, 2002). He also recorded Parisina, but the recording was very nuch criticized due
to the fact that his role was heavily cut because he apparently could not sustain the tessitura.
Reference 1
Reference 2
