RIP Dmitri Hvorostovsky

The heartbreaking news of the death of Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been confirmed by the baritone’s press representative 21C Media.

21C Media issued the following statement today shortly before 4:00 AM:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dmitri Hvorostovsky—beloved operatic baritone, husband, father, son, and friend—at age 55. After a two and a half year battle with brain cancer, he died peacefully at 3:20am GMT on Wednesday, November 22 surrounded by his family at a hospice facility near their home in London, UK. He is survived by his wife, Florence Hvorostovsky, and their two children, Maxim (14) and Nina (10); his twin children, Alexandra and Daniel (21), from a previous marriage; and his parents, Alexander and Lyudmila. Having retired from the opera stage at the end of 2016 due to complications from the tumor, Hvorostovsky made his final public appearance in a “Dmitri and Friends” concert at Austria’s Grafenegg Festival in June; in September, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland of the IV degree, one of the highest non-military honors in his native Russia, for his great contribution to Russian art and culture.