A Ukraine born German opera and concert singer Viktor Rud initially studied choral conducting at the National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in his native city of Kyiv and graduated with a Masters Diploma in 2001. In 1999-2002 he led the Ukrainian National Technical University Chorus as its Artistic Director. In 2002 he moved to London to pursue vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music. He graduated from the RAM in 2006 receiving the Special Prize of HRH Duchess of Gloucester, President of the RAM. In 2009 he was elected Associate of the RAM. He completed his studies in Britain at the National Opera Studio.

Rud moved to Germany in 2007 to become a member of the Staatsoper Berlin International Opera Studio for its inaugural season. Among the roles performed in Berlin were: Mr Astley in Prokofev ‘The Gambler’ (conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov) and the title role in Donizetti ‘Viva La Mamma!’.

From 2009 until 2017 Rud – company soloist at the Hamburg State Opera, where his roles include: Figaro ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia’, Conte Almaviva ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, Oreste in Gluck ‘Iphigenie en Tauride’, Guglielmo ‘Così fan tutte’, Poeta Prosdocimo in Rossini ‘Il Turco in Italia’, Harlequin in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’, Silvio ‘Pagliacci’, Schaunard ‘Bohème’, Dr Falke ‘Fledermaus’, Ned Keene ‘Peter Grimes’, Agamemnon in Offenbach ‘La belle Hélène’, Fernando in Händel ‘Almira, Königin von Kastilien’ Lord Byron in Aribert Reimann ‘Unrevealed’, Graf Luna in Pfitzner ‘Palestrina’, Hiroto in Toshio Hosokawa ‘Stilles Meer’, Alex Duval in Brett Dean ‘Bliss’.

Other operatic repertoire performed with various companies includes the title roles in Tchaikovsky ‘Eugene Onegin’ and Mozart ‘Don Giovanni’, Nardo in Mozart ‘La Finta Giardiniera’, Herr Fluth in ‘Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor’, Salieri in Rimsky Korsakov ‘Mozart and Salieri’, Pisandro/Anfnomo in “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria”, and Papageno in ‘The Magic Flute’ (conducted by Sir Colin Davis) as well as Carl Linneaus in Stefano Gervasoni “Limbus Limbo”.

Viktor Rud has appeared as a guest soloist at La Scala, Milan ((Mr Astley) with Daniel Barenboim) and (also with Mo Barenboim) in a European tour of the East-West Divan Orchestra including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London, the Salzburg Festival and Teatro Maestranza, Seville. Other guest venues: Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Oper Leipzig and Oper Graz, National Opera of Ukraine, Bilbao, Hannover, Baden, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, etc.

Rud has performed in numerous recital, concert and oratorio performances in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (London), Philharmonic Hall (Berlin) and National Philharmonic of Ukraine.

Viktor Rud is the recipient of several awards including the Marilyn Horne Foundation Prize, the William Matheus Sullivan Prize, the International Mozart Competition Prize and the Opera Rara Bel Canto Prize.

Among Viktor Rud recent and upcoming highlights are the title role in the world premiere of Jan Dvorak “Frankenstein” at the Hamburg State Opera directed by Philippe Stoelzl, eight further productions in Hamburg State Opera among which the Count in “Le nozze di Figaro”, Harlequin, Agamemnon, etc., “Katja Kabanova” at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, return to Oper Leipzig in the title role of Figaro in Rossini “Barbiere di Siviglia” and for the new production of Puccini “La fanciulla del West”, role debut as Gabriel von Eisenstein in “Fledermaus” in Cologne Philharmonie, “Freischütz“ in Konzerthaus Berlin and a series of solo recitals accompanied by a world renowned harpist Mara Galassi in Germany and Italy.