Leonid Vitalievitch Sobinov (Russian: Леонид Витальевич Собинов) began singing as early as 1893 in minor roles with an Italian troupe. In 1897 he obtained a contract at the Bolshoi, where he debuted as Sinodal in Anton's The Demon Rubinstein.

At the turn of the ^20th century, he moved to Italy and began touring Europe.

After the October Revolution of 1917, he refused to emigrate. However, the Soviet Revolution divided the family and deprived Sobinov of his two sons: Yuri, who served in the White Army, was killed near Melitopol in 1920, while Boris emigrated to Germany.

Sobinov was to become an important figure in the musical life of the Soviet Union: director of the Bolshoi Theater, chairman of the musical committee of the Kiev Arts Division, director of the public education division in Sevastopol, and finally, in 1923, deputy to the Moscow City Council.

Sobinov made his last stage appearance a year before his death, in 1933, at a Bolshoi gala organized in his honor. The Saratov Conservatory was named after him in 1935.

Thanks to a voice described as timbred, great musical and stage mastery, and a certain charisma, Sobinov is still considered one of the greatest Russian opera singers.

Thanks to his recordings, it's still possible to hear him almost a century after his death.