Vladimir Baykov, born in Moscow in 1974, graduated from the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology as a Cybernetic Engineer before beginning his vocal studies at the Prokofiev Opera Studio in Moscow. He joined Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1996, graduating with diplomas in solo singing and teaching in 2001. From 2002 to 2004 Vladimir Baykov was a member of the Galina Wishnevskaya Opera Center in Moscow.

The bass-baritone took part in several master classes by Mstislav Rostropovich, Paata Burchuladze, Kurt Widmer, and Jewgenij Nesterenko. He has been prize winner of several prestigious competitions: Bella Voce (Moscow, 1997); Mirjam Helin (Helsinki, 1999); Neue Stimmen (Gütersloh, 1999); Maria Callas (Athens, 2001); Belvedere (Vienna, 2001); Georgy Sviridov (Kursk, 2001) and Queen Sonja (Oslo, 2003). He is a scholarship holder of the Richard-Wagner-Association at the Bayreuth Festival 2010.

To his most important past engagements belongs Boris Godunov in which he sang the title role, alternating with José van Dam, at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (2006). He is working regularly at the Finnish National Opera, where, in 2009, he made his highly acclaimed debut as Vodnik; at the opera house in Bonn and at the National Theatre Mannheim, where, in 2010, he sang his first Wagnerian roles, Kothner and Gunther. At the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw he sang Méphistophélès in Robert Wilson’s much celebrated production. He has also performed at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon; the Aalto Theatre Essen and the Festival di due mondi in Spoleto.

Vladimir Baykov’s recent concert engagements include performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under Justus Frantz in Munich’s Philharmonic Hall, Frankfurt's Alte Oper and Berlin's Konzerthaus and Verdi’s Requiem on tour with Enoch zu Guttenberg at the Berlin Philharmonic and Alte Oper Frankfurt. Gianandrea Noseda, Antonello Allemandi, Alan Curtis, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Stefan Soltesz, Carlo Franci, Woldemar Nelsson and Kazushi Ono are among the conductors with whom he has worked, and he has given recitals in his native Russia and abroad, in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Japan.

Future roles include his debut as Heerrufer in Lohengrin at the opera house of Innsbruck, his debut at the Theater an der Wien in Iolanta, as well as Rusalka at the Finnish National Opera Helsinki. Other forthcoming engagements include Donner at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam and Vodnik at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.

Vladimir Baykov has recorded Louis Spohr’s “Die letzten Dinge” for Capriccio records in 2007 (conducted by Bruno Weil).