Boris Godunov Biographies Cast Stanislav Trofimov (Boris Godunov) began his operatic career in the Chelyabinsk Opera House in 2008, and went on to perform leading bass roles at the Ekaterinburg Opera House (the Bolshoi Theatre) and other opera theaters across Russia. He became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2016. Mr. Trofimov has portrayed numerous leading roles including the title role in Boris Godunov, Philip II (Don Carlos), Procida (I vespri siciliani), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Konchak (Prince Igor), Ivan Susanin (Life of the Tsar), Sobakin (Tsar’s Bride), Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), Don Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), and Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila). Recent performances include Procida in Mariinsky’s new production of I vespri siciliani, Zaccaria in Nabucco at the opening of Arena di Verona Summer Festival, a tour with the Bolshoi Theatre as Archbishop in The Maid of Orleans in France, and performances at the Salzburg Festival as Priest in the new production of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Mr. Trofimov will appear at the 2018 Salzburg Festival and at Teatro alla Scala in 2019. These performances mark his San Francisco Symphony debut. This season, Cuban-American mezzo-soprano Eliza Bonet (Fyodor) made her debut at the Kennedy Center as a member of the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, singing the role of Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina. As a part of this season’s nationwide Bernstein at 100 celebrations, Ms. Bonet performs as Paquette in Candide with the Washington National Opera, and with the National Symphony in West Side Story. She returns to Washington National Opera for the 2018-19 season, performing in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, Unicorn, and Me, and Kamala Sankaram and Jerre Dye’s Taking Up Serpents. As a member of the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera, Ms. Bonet performed the role of Eunice in the company’s production of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire and appeared as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Her numerous honors include an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2013, being named a finalist at the Opera Birmingham Competition, and a Joe Festervan Memorial Award from the Mary Jacobs Smith Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition. She completed her graduate degree from Florida State University in 2011 and was a young artist with Florida Grand Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances. In the 2017-18 season soprano Jennifer Zetlan (Xenia) gives performances in the title role of Rhoda in John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt for On Site Opera at the Natural History Museum, reprises her role in Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing with American Repertory Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and plays Fanny in the New York premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star. Last season, she made her European debut with the Stuttgart State Theater in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, created the title role in the world premiere of Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre with Center for Contemporary Opera, and concluded a run of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. On the concert stage, she performed Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh with the New York Philharmonic at the Park Avenue Armory and sang the role of Woglinde in that ensemble’s concert presentation of Das Rheingold. Ms. Zetlan sang the soprano solos in Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Mass in C minor with Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and on tour in Uruguay, and was heard at Carnegie Hall as a celebrated alumna of Mannes College of Music in its Centennial Celebration concert. She was also heard in recital with pianist David Shimoni and composer Ricky Ian Gordon, and was seen in Charlottesville Opera’s new production of Oklahoma! as Laurey. These performances mark her San Francisco Symphony debut. In recent seasons, mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen (Nurse) has appeared at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, American Chamber Opera in Chicago, Island City Opera, and One World Symphony. She has created and performed new works at London’s Barbican Centre with Ornette Coleman, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara with Meredith Monk, and Carnegie Hall with Philip Glass. Ms. Jensen won second place in the 2014 Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition, and made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 2014. This season she makes her debut with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and at the Mendocino Music Festival. She has commissioned and premiered works composed for her, and has appeared in recital in New York at Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Symphony Space, Americas Society, Liederkranz Club, the Stone, Bonhams, Nicholas Roerich Museum, the Cell Theatre, and at the Ethical Society of Philadelphia. She has made recordings for the ECM, London, Koch, Helicon, MSR Classics, Sono Luminus, and Soundbrush Records labels. A professional member of the SFS Chorus, she made her Symphony solo debut in 2015 and appeared most recently in May in the SFS Chorus concert performing J.S. Bach’s Magnificat. Tenor Yevgeny Akimov (Prince Shuisky) has appeared at the Mariinsky Theatre, San Francisco Opera, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Regio in Turin, National Grand Theatre of China, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has worked with singers including Giuseppe Giacomini, Plácido Domingo, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, and with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Gianandrea Noseda, and Semyon Bychkov. Mr. Akimov’s discography includes recordings of Boris Godunov, Betrothal in a Monastery, The Tsar’s Bride, The Love for Three Oranges, Semyon Kotko, Francesca da Rimini, Aleko, and The Bells. In 2009 Mr. Akimov was awarded medals by the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation for his performance in Francesca da Rimini and The Bells. These performances mark his San Francisco Symphony debut. This season, baritone Aleksey Bogdanov (Andrei Shchelkalov) makes his debut with Arizona Opera as Scarpia in Tosca and with Sarasota Opera as Sebastiano in d’Albert's Tiefland. He also appears as Lionel in Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orleans with Odyssey Opera in Boston and in Anton Rubinstein’s Demon with Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. A graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, Mr. Bogdanov received additional training as a young artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Glimmerglass Festival, and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program. He is a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions, a two-time winner of the Florida Grand Opera YPO competition, and a career grant recipient from the Sullivan Musical Foundation, the Shoshana Foundation, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, and Pasadena Opera Guild. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances. Bass Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev (Pimen) graduated from the Moscow Conservatory and continued his education at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre. He has participated in workshops with Riccardo Muti, Alexander Malt, Vladimir Chernov, Diane Zola, Richard Bado, Lenore Rosenberg, and Mirella Freni. Mr. Kuzmin-Karavaev has been a soloist at Novaya Opera Theatre Moscow since 2007, a regular guest soloist at the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre since 2006, and at Bolshoi Theatre Moscow. He is a laureate of the International Glinka Singing Competition in Moscow, the Galina Vishnevskaya International Opera Singers Competition, and Bella Voce Young Opera Singers’ Competition in Moscow. Notable roles include Pimen in Boris Godunov, Rodolfo in La Sonnambula, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. In concert, he has performed repertory by J.S. Bach, Haydn, Rossini, Schumann, Verdi, Mozart, Fauré, and Saint-Saëns. These performances mark his San Francisco Symphony debut. Sergei Skorokhodov (Grigory) began his operatic career in 2007, when he joined the Mariinsky Theatre in performances alongside Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina, and Maria Guleghina. Mr. Skorokhodov has performed at Festspielhaus Baden Baden, the Royal Opera in Stockholm, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Washington National Opera, and Welsh National Opera, among others. After his 2008 debut at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre as Grigory in Boris Godunov, he performed the role at the Bavarian State Opera. Recent highlights include performances of the title role in Lohengrin, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Ivan in The Nose, Erik in The Flying Dutchman, Ismaele in Nabucco, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Mariinsky Theatre, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Valencia Palau de la Musica, Chicago Lyric Opera, and Glyndebourne Festival. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances. Vyacheslav Pochapsky (Varlaam) is currently a principal soloist at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. He has performed with major opera houses in Berlin, Bonn, Budapest, Chemnitz, Dresden, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Genoa, Gera, Glasgow, Graz, London, Milan, Moscow, New York, Paris, Seoul, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Trieste, and Verona. Mr. Pochapsky has appeared in roles in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, The Tsar's Bride, and Mozart and Salieri. These performances mark his San Francsico Symphony debut. Tenor Ben Jones (Missail) has appeared on stages around the world, including the Grosser Musikvereinssaal, the Rudolfinum, Mariinsky Theatre, Vienna State Opera, the Concertgebouw, and Walt Disney Hall. He is featured on recordings on the Albany label, as well as the soundtracks for the video game franchises Halo and Civilization, and on commercials for Coors Light and Meow Mix. Mr. Jones has appeared as soloist with Pittsburgh Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Columbus Symphony, and the Oakland East Bay Symphony, sharing the stage with the likes of Frederica von Stade, Nathan Gunn, Rita Moreno, Helmuth Rilling, and Val Diamond.