 In 1959, he was invited to the Mariinsky Theater in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) where he gained world fame as a leading soloist from 1959 to 1989.At the Mariinsky Theater he sang a great number of roles, such as Ruslan, Don Basilio, Boris Godunov, Ivan Susanin, the title role in Anton Rubinstein's "The Demon", Prince Gremin, Mefistofele, and many others.He died on 6 January 2005 in St. Petersburg, and was buried at the Literatorskie Mostki of the Volkovo Cemetery.