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.

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Photo: Pavel Vaan/Leonid Semenyuk