Alex Ilvakhin

Ukrainian baritone Alexander (Alex) Ilvakhin studied at the Odessa College of Arts and Culture, continued his vocal training at the Nezhdanova National Academy of Music in Odessa from 2016 onwards, and obtained a Bachelor of Music degree there in 2020. He then completed a master's degree with Mark Wildman at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Alex gained stage experience early on, both as an actor and as a musical and opera performer. At the Young Theatre and the Odessa Music Theatre, he appeared in leading roles in plays and musical productions, including Mowgli, Aladdin's Magic Lamp, The Golden Key, Karlsson on the Roof, The Canterville Ghost, Kiss Me, Kate, Pinocchio and many more. 

He has participated in many national singing competitions and won prizes in Ukraine, Turkey and the Czech Republic. In 2018, he impressed viewers on the television show ‘The Voice of Ukraine’. He supplemented his vocal training at the Rodolfo Celletti Belcanto Academy in Martina Franca. In 2022, he was awarded second prize and a special prize from the Fundacion Victoria de Los Angeles at the Certamen Nuevas Voces Ciudad de Sevilla competition in Spain.

In June 2023, Alex received the Drake Calleja Trust Scholarship and an award from the Fondazione Paolo Grassi. In September 2023, he was awarded the Pavarotti Prize by the Royal Academy of Music and in 2024 he won the Mercedes Viñas Extraordinary Prize at the Tenor Viñas Competition. In the summer of 2024, Alex Ivakhin appeared in the new production of Aladino by Nino Rota at the Festival della Valle d'Itria.

At the Vienna State Opera, he has sung roles such as Johann (Werther), Schmidt (Andrea Chénier), the Novice’s Friend (Billy Budd), Comedian (Die verkaufte Braut), Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly) and 2nd Knight of the Grail (Parsifal) and NOE in childerns’ production Sagt der Walfisch zum Thunfisch im NEST.