Alexy Andreyev

Alexy Andreyev (15th of August 1906, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – 1949, USA)  – an opera singe (tenor).

At the age of sixteen, Alexy Andreev arrived in Riga together with his mother, the singer and vocal teacher Anna Zherebtsova-Andreeva. He had a gift for getting along easily with people, was interested in many different activities, and therefore quickly found a wide range of pursuits. One of his youthful passions was football, which he took up seriously, and for some time — according to his relatives — even played in matches for the Latvian national football team.

After a while, Alexy Andreev decided to find a more or less respectable job not connected with sports, and he easily obtained a position as a clerk at the U.S. Embassy in Latvia. His excellent gymnasium education, command of English and German, and native Russian helped him greatly. Moreover, Andreev quickly and reasonably well mastered the Latvian language after moving to Riga. However, he did not stay long at the embassy. Scattered references in his relatives’ correspondence to some kind of conflict do not allow the full picture of events to be reconstructed.

Alexy Andreev was a musically gifted person. Like his father, the Russian naval officer turned opera singer Nikolai Andreev, he possessed a beautifully toned voice (tenor). Alexy studied singing with his mother and often performed in concerts given by the students of her studio.

By the time he was nearly thirty, Andreev became passionately interested in musical theatre. By then, he already had a solid vocal repertoire and decided to try his hand at opera.

In 1936, Alexy Andreev joined the Liepāja Opera Theatre. He worked there for no more than two seasons but managed to perform several major roles — the title role in Charles Gounod’s Faust, Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, and the Prince in Rusalka by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. The last of these was also heard by the Riga public: in May 1937, the Liepāja Opera visited Riga on tour.

Alongside his work at the theatre, Andreev also gave solo concerts in various Latvian cities and appeared on Riga Radio.

Alexy Andreev left the opera stage in 1939, when he accepted an offer from Serge Jaroff, the leader of the Don Cossack Choir, to become a soloist with the ensemble. In September of that same year, the choir began touring North America. It was there, in the United States, that Andreev settled permanently. He married violinist and singer Zonia Porter, who later gave birth to their daughter, Kathryn.

In 1943, Alexy Andreev was drafted into the U.S. Army, though it seems that he did not see active combat. After the war, he worked as a sales representative for various American companies and never returned to the art of singing. He outlived his beloved mother, A. Zherebtsova-Andreeva, by only five years.

Marina Mikhailiets

Source of information:

ЛГИА (фото), ф. 2996, оп. 1, д. 10844.