From the middle of the 19th Century Americans have been inordinately proud of their native-born singers, and in particular of their baritones. From the concert platform to oratorio, opera, operetta, musical comedy, countless movies and Broadway musicals, the American baritone, with his persuasive and virile vocal tone no doubt the result of the great cultural and ethnic mix that makes up the United States, has been a mainstay of musical America. All the more unlikely then that a young baritone from the Ukraine would became one of the most recognised and loved voices on record and radio, in opera and recital.