Nicolai Harry Gustav Gedda (Nikolaj Ustinov) was born on July 11, 1925,
in Stockholm, Sweden. He was adopted by his Russian-Swedish aunt, named
Olga Gedda, and her Russian husband, named Mikhail Ustinov; who came to
Sweden after the Russian Civil War and sang with an émigré Don Cossac
choir and also was a cantor in a Russian Orthodox Church.
His first voice and music teacher was his father. He took his adopted
son to the Cossac choir rehearsals and to a Russian Orthodox Church
services in Leipzig, where they lived from 1928-1934. The family had to
flee from the tide of Nazism under Adolf Hitler. Back in Stockholm he
continued singing with his father in the Russian church. Gedda
initially worked as a bank teller at a local Stockholm bank, where a
wealthy client overheard him speaking of his dream of becoming a
professional opera singer. The sponsor paid for his studies with tenor
Karl Martin Oehmann at the Stockholm Conservatory.
Gedda made his debut in April 1952 at the Stockholm Opera in the role
of Chapelou in Adam's 'Postillon de Longjumeau'. After a success in
Stockhiln, he was auditioned by Herbert von Karajan. He was so impressed that he
took Gedda along to Italy, promoting him both in concerts and opera
performances. In 1953 he was contracted by La Scala to sing Don Ottavio
in "Don Giovanni" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1954 he made his Paris Opera debut in
Oberon by Carl Maria von Weber. A few months later he sang the title role in Faust
by Charles Gounod. Since then Gedda had a permanent engagement with the Paris
opera for several years and established himself as the leading
interpreter of the French repertoire.
In 1957, Gedda made his debut at the Pittsburg Opera with the title
role in 'Faust'. In November of 1957 he made his Metropolitan Opera
debut with the same role. In 1958, Gedda created the role of Anatol in
the premiere of 'Vanessa'. The role was specially written for him by
Samuel Barber. Gedda sang with the Met for the next 26 seasons and performed
28 roles there. He also continued his voice training in New York with
the international teacher Paola Novikoa. She taught Gedda a healthy
technique, contributing to his long and successful career. His latest
recordings were made in 2003.
Gedda's mastery of nine languages enables him to singing with total
freedom the entire standard operatic repertoire. He sings with natural
beauty on Italian, English, Latin, Hebrew, French, German,
Pan-Scandinavian, and his native Russian and Swedish. Nicolai Gedda is
arguably the most versatile of tenors in the second half of the 20th
Century. Luciano Pavarotti said of him, "there is no tenor with a greater ease in
the upper register than Gedda." He is equally strong in opera and song.
He made over 200 recordings over the course of his career. In the
autobiography 'My Life and Art' (1999), written in collaboration with
his third wife, Aino Sellermark Gedda, he revealed his devotion to art
and his indifference to fame.
Nicolai Gedda is living in retirement in Switzerland.
