Reader Submission: Model turned Barihunk Oleg Loza

Oleg Loza

Our latest Reader Submission is the Moscow bass-barihunk Oleg Loza. We hear numerous barihunks described as having "model looks," but Loza actually was a model at the Slava Zaitsev Model Agency. He modeled while completing his Master's Degree in Voice at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.

Loza reminds many of his fellow compatriot Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who shares his flowing long hair that gives them both a pop star vibe. Like Hvorostovsky, he is a serious classical singer, who originally studied voice and choral conducting before pursuing a career as a singer. In 2009, he won the prestigious Feodor Chaliapin Singing Competition in Yalta.

Oleg Loza sings Valentin's aria from Gounod's Faust:

After graduating from the Conservatory in 2012, he made his professional debut as Norton in Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio at the Wiener Kammeroper in Austria. He followed that up with a run as Schaunard in Puccini's La boheme at both the Wiener Kammeroper and Amsterdam's Het Companientheater.

Since that time, he's been a young artist with the Zürich Opera, where he has performed Usciere in Verdi's Rigoletto and Deputato in Verdi's Don Carlo. He is currently singing Happy in Puccini's La fanciulla del West, which runs through July 13th and will run again September 24-October 10.

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