Envoy from The Bronx

The musical conquest of Moscow, launched by a pianist from Texas, was consolidated last week by a baritone from The Bronx. As Van Cliburn flew home to a hero's welcome in Manhattan (see PEOPLE), the Metropolitan Opera's Old Pro Leonard Warren, 47, breezed into Moscow and gave audiences at the Bolshoi Theater a chance to hear the resonant, mahogany-hued voice and the sweeping dramatic power that have made him one of grand opera's top baritones.

Warren appeared with the Bolshoi Theater Company in the title role of Verdi's Rigoletto, a part that he has made his own at the Met. Several of the Russian singers (who sang in Russian while Warren sang in Italian) came close to matching Warren in acting ability, but when he opened up his big voice, he dominated the stage. After his Act II aria, Cortigiani "oil razza, reported the New York Times's Howard Taubman, the Russians stopped the show with a spontaneous outburst. At the final curtain, they gave him a standing ovation. Warren is scheduled to appear in recitals in Leningrad, to do Rigoletto in Kiev, and to sing lago in Otello in Riga. He has already left a lasting memento of his visit: the Russians have copied the sheet music of one of his most popular recital numbers: Colorado Trail.

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