A baritone born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Vitaly Yushmanov has won awards at many prestigious contests. After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, he visited schools in the disaster area, interacting with the local children through music lessons. He moved to Japan in 2015 where he has been active as a performer of opera and Japanese songs ever since.
The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, left a total of more than 18400 dead or missing. The NHK produced the recovery support song, “Hana wa Saku (Flowers Will Bloom)” in 2012 to encourage the survivors and support the reconstruction of affected areas. In 2021, the NHK WORLD-JAPAN produced multilingual versions of "Hana wa Saku."