Yevgeny Tsodokov

Yevgeny Samsonovich Tsodokov, a Russian musicologist, critic, pianist, teacher, and editor, was born in 1948 in Moscow. He studied at the Central Music School and then graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied piano with Professor V. A. Natanson.

After completing his education, Tsodokov taught, worked as an accompanist, and served as a research fellow at the All-Union Scientific and Methodological Center of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. His professional activity combined practical musical work with scholarship and writing.

He became the author of numerous articles on the history of musical culture and vocal art, as well as reviews of opera productions and concerts. His work appeared in periodicals, including the newspapers Kultura, Bolshoi Theatre, Russian Thought, and Alphabet, and in magazines such as Melodiya, Musical Life, and Music Journal.

Tsodokov also collaborated with the television program Absolute Ear on the Kultura channel. In 1999 he prepared and published the encyclopedic dictionary Opera through the Moscow publisher Composer, described as the first universal reference book of its kind in Russia.

In 2001 he took part in publishing the memoirs of the great singer Beniamino Gigli, I Did Not Want to Live in Caruso's Shadow, for which he prepared the introductory article and commentary. In 2000 he created the opera website OperaNews on the internet and published more than 600 articles and reference materials there.

He served as editor-in-chief of OperaNews.ru from 2000 to 2003 and again from 2008 to 2016. His career has been closely associated with opera journalism, reference publishing, and the popularization of musical and vocal culture.