Biografia
Vladimir Troshin was a Russian singer and actor renowned for his heartfelt rendition of the popular song "Moscow Nights."
Born Vladimir Konstantinovich Troshin on May 15, 1926, in Mikhailovsky, Sverdlovsk province, Russia, USSR, he was the tenth child in a working-class family. As a youth, Troshin enjoyed music and singing, playing the balalaika and harmonica. In 1943, he was admitted to the Moscow Art Theatre acting school, where his classmates included Vladimir Druzhnikov, Mikhail Pugovkin, Vladlen Davydov, and Yevgeniya Khanayeva. He studied acting under Maria Knebel and Vasili Toporkov, and singing with Natalia M. Kupriyanova, graduating as an actor in 1947.
From 1947 until 1988, Troshin was a permanent member of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT) troupe. There, he worked alongside celebrated Russian actors such as Anatoli Ktorov, Olga Androvskaya, Angelina Stepanova, Irina Gosheva, Dmitri Orlov, Mikhail Yanshin, Aleksey Gribov, Boris Livanov, Mikhail Kedrov, Mark Prudkin, Anastasiya Georgievskaya, Vasili Toporkov, Mikhail Bolduman, Pavel Massalsky, Sergei Blinnikov, and the next generation of MKhAT performers including Oleg Efremov, Evgeniy Evstigneev, Tatyana Doronina, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Oleg Tabakov, Alla Pokrovskaya, Kira Golovko, Tatyana Lavrova, Iya Savvina, Nina Gulyaeva, Anastasiya Voznesenskaya, Irina Miroshnichenko, Andrey Myagkov, Stanislav Lyubshin, Viktor Sergachyov, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Evgeniy Kindinov, Sergey Sazontev, Avangard Leontev, and Igor Vasilev.
In 1955, Troshin played the jester Feste in Dvenadtsataya Noch (Twelfth Night), a Soviet adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play. In this production, he performed nine songs composed by Eduard Kolmanovskiy. The following year, he became the first to perform "Podmoskovnye vechera," composed by Vasiliy Solovev-Sedoy with lyrics by Mikhail Matusovsky. The song gained international recognition as "Moscow Nights" after the 1957 Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. Eventually, Troshin shifted his focus from acting to singing and became one of the Soviet Union’s most distinguished vocalists. He performed works by composers such as Vasiliy Solovev-Sedoy, Aleksandra Pakhmutova, Nikita Bogoslovskiy, Oskar Feltsman, Aleksandr Tsfasman, Mark Fradkin, Matvey Blanter, and Arno Babadzhanyan. His repertoire included over two thousand songs, recorded in more than 700 live and studio performances. Troshin’s singing career in the USSR and Russia spanned over five decades.
Troshin also maintained a career as a character actor in Soviet and Russian film and television, portraying notable figures including Sir Winston Churchill, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, and Mikhail Gorbachev. He earned recognition for dubbing numerous international stars in over 70 films released in the Soviet and Russian markets, such as Gérard Philipe in the popular film "Fan-Fan the Tulip" (1952). Additionally, he performed for Marlene Dietrich during her visit to Moscow.
Throughout his life, Vladimir Troshin received many honors from the Soviet state, including the State Stalin Prize in 1950, and was named People's Artist of Russia in 1984. He was married to ballerina Raisa Troshina, and the couple had one son. Vladimir Troshin passed away from heart failure on February 25, 2008, and was buried at Troekurovskoe Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
