Anyone who makes it onto the stage as a soloist at the age of eight must be born to sing. In Kirill Novokhatko's case, this is an obvious thought - especially as he comes from a family that loves singing. ‘My whole family sang. Engineers, teachers and linguists - although none of them had any musical training,’ recalls the young countertenor. ‘So it was always easy and natural for me to sing.’ Kirill describes the performance with a large choir and orchestra, which he mastered as an eleven-year-old, as an overwhelming experience. There is no doubt that his path was mapped out. 

Born in Rostov-on-Don, he first moved to Moscow, where he began his bachelor's degree at the GITIS Academy of Theatre Arts in 2016. Perhaps because singing came easily to him at an early age, the talented musician also briefly flirted with a career as a pianist, but his passion for singing prevailed.

Three years before graduating as an opera singer and musical theatre actor in 2021, Kirill Novokhatko was already engaged at the Moscow Helikon Opera. There, the young artist won acclaim in a number of exciting productions: Offenbach's 'La Belle Helene', Johann Strauss' 'Die Fledermaus' and Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Sadko', for example. The leading role in Handel's "Orlando", which Kirill sang for two seasons from 2018 to 2020, ultimately earned him a nomination for the state theatre award "Golden Mask". This was followed by the title role title role in Landi's ‘St. Alessio’ in 2020.

The conductor of both productions was Andrew Lawrence-King, to whom Kirill owes important artistic impulses. No less important to him were Michael Chance, Andrew Watts, Daniel Taylor, Lynn Dawson and Deborah York.

The following year, Kirill's dream of the early Moscow years came true: in 2021 he began studying for a master's degree in baroque singing with Andreas Scholl at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. "He has helped me to discover new colours in my voice, to refine the transitions between registers and to reveal my individuality." In October 2024, Kirill gave his Master's concert, completing his studies with top marks.

Kirill now lives in Hamburg. Musical highlights in recent years have included productions of Monteverdi's Vespers, the opera The Coronation of Poppea, as well as the forthcoming Messiah at Bremen Cathedral. The artist himself once said: "Going on stage is always a liberation. For me, on the other side of the pit, nothing is fake - everything is real.