Russian bass Pavel Kudinov was born in Dimitrovgrad and received his education at the Sobinov Conservatory in Saratov. He made his opera debut outside of Russia as Ruslan in Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. This was followed by engagements as Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Selim (Il turco in Italia) and Colline (La bohème) at the Vienna Volksoper, as König Heinrich (Lohengrin) at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, as Alidoro (La Cenerentola) and Escamillo (Carmen) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and as Sarastro at the Teatro Regio in Turin. He also made guest appearances as Sarastro at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and at the Leipzig Opera, and as Escamillio at the opera in the quarry in St. Margarethen.

Pavel Kudinov appears regularly under conductors such as Teodor Currentzis, Christophe Rousset, Paolo Carignani, Axel Kober, Christopher Moulds, Marc Minkowski, George Petrou, Fabio Luisi and Pedro Halffter. His extraordinarily broad repertoire ranges from Handel’s great bass roles via Mozart, Rossini and Bellini to Verdi, Wagner and Puccini.

Recent highlights include King Henry and Procida (Les Vêpres siciliennes) at the Bonn Opera, Gurnemanz (Parsifal) and King Henry at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl, Ariodate (Serse) and Segeste (Arminio) at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe, Zaccaria (Nabucco) and Pagano (I Lombardi alla prima crociata) at the Heidenheim Opera Festival, the gold dealer (Cardillac) at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Segeste at the Opera Rara Festival in Kraków, his debut at the Hamburg State Opera as Consalvo in Handel’s Almira and Vivaldi’s Astolfo (Orlando furioso) and Handel’s Ernando (Publio Cornelio Scipione) and Emireno (Ottone) in concert performances at the Theater an der Wien.

After his Salzburg Festival debut in Porpora’s Polifemo, his projects include Silva (Ernani) and Filippo II (Don Carlo) at the Heidenheim Opera Festival and König Heinrich in a Salzburg State Theater production of Lohengrin at the Felsenreitschule.

Pavel Kudinov can be heard on CD in Tamerlano as well as in multiple award-winning recordings by Alessandro and Ottone.

In the 2020/21 season he was seen in AGRIPPINA, in 2021/22 he will be seen as Count Lamoral in ARABELLA, The Commander in DON GIOVANNI, A Soldier in LI-TAI-PE, Opponent/Wild Man in IWEIN LÖWENRITTER, Hermann, his father in LEONORE 40/45, Filippo II in DON CARLO and Don Ruy Gomez de Silva in ERNANI at Theater Bonn.

2023 sang er am Theater Bonn Bonzo in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Sparafucile in RIGOLETTO und Claudio in AGRIPPINA; Grieux in MANON am Theater Aachen und Filipp II. In DON CARLO bei den Opernfestspiele Heidenheim.

2024 war am Theater Bonn als Gremin in ONEGIN, Bonzo in MADAME BUTTERFLY und Kuharka in DIE LIEBE ZU DEN 3 ORANGEN zu sehen.