| The future singer was born on October 20th (November 1) 1895 in the city of Fergana (at that time - New Margelan) in Uzbekistan. The family had moved there from Vyatka province. His father was a gunsmith, and his mother a farmer. The family had six children. Alexander inherited his love of singing from his parents. While studying at the Fergana Gymnasium, he studied violin, participated in the gymnasium choir and played in the orchestra. Upon finishing his schooling at the gymnasium in 1915 Alexeev enrolled at the Moscow Higher Technical School (it was here, in 1917, that he held his first concert), he also took singing lessons with professor N.P. Miller. In 1918 he returned to Fergana, where he taught mathematics and singing at a local gymnasium; in the same year he volunteered for the Red Army, where after a while, he began to manage the choir under the People’s Commissariat for Education. To improve his vocal skills he was sent to the Tashkent Regency Studio. Alexeev’s operatic debut took place soon after at the Tashkent Opera House in the role of Synodal in Anton Rubinstein’s opera the "Demon". In 1919, at the end of his time at the studio, the young singer was sent to Moscow to complete his musical education. In 1919-1922 Alexeev was engaged as a soloist of the opera company formally owned by S.I. Zimin. It was here that he was able to broaden his repertoire with the roles of, among others, Lensky and Gritsko (Sorochinsky Fair). In 1922, he moved to the music theatre under the leadership of Konstantine Stanislavsky, and in 1924 he was engaged at the musical theatre under the leadership of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, where he performed the role of Ange Pita in Charles Lecocq’s operetta " La Fille de Madam Angot". Between 1922 and 1923 Alexeyev studied at the Bolshoi Opera Studio with N.P. Miller.
Between 1925-1927 and 1929-1939, Aexander Alexeev was engaged as a soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. His best roles, as performed on the Bolshoi’s stage, included Lensky (1925), Alfredo (1925), Dubrovsky (1926), the Hindu guest (1926), Duca de Mantua (1926), Mozart (1926), Synodal (1926), Vsevolod (" The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh ", in 1926), The Prince (" Rusalka", 1926), Romeo (1927), Almaviva (1929), Lohengrin (1930), Faust (in Charles Gounod’s opera in 1930), Ashug "in Spendiarov’s opera Almast(1930), Calaf (1932), Rudolfo (1932) and Guidon (1937). He sang a total of 44 roles at the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1927, he performed at the Moscow Operetta Theatre and in 1928 he was invited to the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, where he worked for 4 months. He also met great success touring in Lithuania, Latvia, and Czechoslovakia. After studying his stage-craft over a period of many years, the musicologist E.A. Grosheva produced a monograph on Alexander Alexeev where she wrote: "When you think of Alexander Ivanovich as a singer, first of all a memory arises of his voice - the purest lyric tenor. Alexander Ivanovich possessed a considerable vocal range and various vocal colours. Alexeev produced not only a beautiful, and always expressive sounding piano and pianissimo, but also a full, sonorous forte - a phenomenon rare among lyric voices. In the reviews, the volume and power of the upper register of Alexeyev’s voice were repeatedly noted, giving him the opportunity to sing roles that required considerable sound saturation and dramatic expression. Such, for example, his most beloved parts - the role of Vladimir Dubrovsky, Rudolfo in Puccini’s opera La Boheme and especially Prince Calaf from Puccini’s Turandot. In all evaluations of Alexeyev’s voice, the lyrical charm of his timbre and the special sincerity and purity of sound are always emphasized. Modesty and simplicity, complete absence of any affectation and exaggeration, characterize both the scenic images of Alekseyev, and his vocal gift. The open and direct feeling, soft gentleness of the voice, sincerity and naturalness of singing gave the images of Alexander Ivanovich charm on the stage."
Alexander Alexeev’s chamber and concert repertoire included more than 300 works (folk songs, classical romances, large-scale works - Beethoven’s 9th symphony, and the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi). Alexeev passed-away in Moscow on June 20th 1939 after a serious illness. At the singer’s grave at the Novodevichy cemetery a monument was erected with a sculptural depiction of the artist in the role of Lensky.
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