Nicolai Gedda

One of the most popular tenors of the 1960s and 1970s, Nicolai Gedda had an extraordinary array of successful recordings in both the Romantic and modern operatic repertories, as well as in light opera and operetta. Fluent in seven languages, he was equally well-regarded for his roles in English, French, German, and Russian opera. The son of a Russian singer father (family name Ustinoff) and a Swedish mother, he chose his mother's maiden name as his professional name. Gedda studied music in Leipzig, where his father was choirmaster of the Russian Orthodox Church, until 1934, ...