Grigory Karasev was born in Leningrad. He graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1977, having studied vocals under Professor N.A. Serval. After graduating from the Conservatoire he joined the Mariinsky Opera Company.
Roles he has performed at the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre include: Russian Commander, Polish Commander (A Life for the Tsar) Ruslan (Ruslan and Lyudmila) Skula (Prince Igor) Old Servant (The Demon) Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) Orlik (Mazepa) Potap, Foka (The Enchantress) Surin (The Queen of Spades) Ivan the Terrible (The Maid of Pskov) Duda, Viking Merchant (Sadko) Patsyuk (Christmas Eve) Storm-Bogatyr (Kashchei the Immortal) Bediay and Burunday (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia) Old Gypsy (Aleko) Virgil's Shadow (Francesca da Rimini) Teiresias (Oedipus Rex) Tchelio, Cook (The Love for Three Oranges) Remenyuk (Semyon Kotko) Priest (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) Peter I (Andrey Petrov's Peter I) Mayakovsky ( Andrey Petrov's Mayakovsky Begins) Grigory Melikhov (Ivan Dzerzhinsky's Quiet Flows the Don) Nicholas I (Yuri Shaporin's The Decembrists) General (The Carriage) Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor) Don Pasquale (Don Pasquale) Sparafucile, Monterone (Rigoletto) Ferrando (Il trovatore) The Alcalde, Marchese di Calatrava (La forza del destino) Grand Inquisitor, Monk (Don Carlo) King of Egypt (Aida) Cesare Angelotti (Tosca) Timur (Turandot) Mefistofele (Faust) Don Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) Commander (Don Giovanni) Fafner (Das Rheingold) Titurel (Parsifal)
Grigory Karasev has performed at numerous renowned theatres and concert venues. He has toured to Rotterdam and Lisbon in addition to appearances at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna's Konzerthaus. He is a guest soloist with the New Israeli Opera, La Fenice and the Metropolitan Opera. Took part in the VIII Moscow Easter Festival.
