After study at the Moscow State Conservatory Alexander Baumenko continued at the Bolshoy, joining the company finally in 1991, after a period that brought study with Hans Hotter and with Norman Shetler. In 1984 he won the Glinka Singing Competition and in 1985 first prize and the Elly Ameling award (for the performance of chamber works) at the International Singing Competition in ’s- Hertogenbosch. His Bolshoy operatic rôles include Dr Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Bartolo in Il nozze di Figaro, Ferrando in Il trovatore, Banquo in Macbeth, Pistola in Falstaff and the Father Guardian in La forza del destino.