The Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky initially studied choral conducting at the Ștefan Neaga School of Music in Chișinău, before pursuing singing studies at the Rimsky-Korsakov St Petersburg State Conservatory.
In 2007 he was a finalist in the St Petersburg International Singing Competition. He received third prize at the Elena Obraztsova and Maria Bieşu international singing competitions.
At the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg, he performed roles including the Prince in Boris Asafiev’s children’s opera Cinderella, Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Schaunard (La bohème), Robert (Iolanta), Silvano (Un ballo in maschera), Baron Douphol (La traviata) and Dancaïro (Carmen). In 2011 he made his debut at the Latvian National Opera in Riga as Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia).
In the 2011/2012 season he completed the Young Artists Opera Programme at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, where since then he has appeared in roles including the title role of Eugene Onegin, Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Dr Falke (Die Fledermaus), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Marcello (La bohème) and the Venetian Merchant in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko.
Other engagements have included Belcore and Andrei Bolkonsky (War and Peace) at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Robert at the Paris Opéra, Don Ferdinand (Betrothal in a Monastery) under Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera, Malatesta, Figaro and the title role of Don Giovanni at the Glyndebourne Festival, Figaro and Guglielmo at the Washington National Opera, Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Komische Oper Berlin and the Edinburgh Festival, Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Marcello at the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Met and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
In the 2024/25 season he made his debut as Posa (Don Carlos) at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki and sang Don Pedro in a concert performance of Donizetti’s Maria Padilla at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and Figaro at the Met.
Andrey Zhilikhovsky is also a devotee of Russian song repertory and has given song recitals with the pianist Iain Burnside at venues including London’s Wigmore Hall.
Future engagements will include Lionel in Tchaikovsky’s The Maid of Orléans at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Marcello at the Vienna State Opera and Count Almaviva at Covent Garden.
