Dmitri Hvorostovsky (October 16, 1962 – November 22, 2017) was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. In 1989, he won the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World competition. After his critically acclaimed debut as Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades at the Opéra de Nice, he went on to perform on some of the world's most prestigious stages, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Paris Opera, La Scala, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Salzburg Festival. He also performed at venues across Australia and South America.

Many contemporary composers wrote works for him. His most notable roles included Count di Luna in Il trovatore, Posa in Don Carlo, the title role in Rigoletto, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, the title role in Simon Boccanegra, Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades and the title role in Eugene Onegin.

He debuted at the Vienna State Opera in 1994 as Sir Riccardo in I puritani, subsequently performing as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Posa, Rigoletto, Yeletsky, Iago in Otello, Giorgio Germont in La traviata, and the title roles in Eugene Onegin and Simon Boccanegra.