Yevgeni Shapovalov, among the best-known opera singers in Israel, passed away last night at the age of 54, apparently as a result of a heart attack.

Shapovalov sang in a variety of styles, and alongside opera also combined popular music and folk music in his works.

Israel Hayom reported that he was born in Belarus in 1968, and from a young age sang in bands and experimented with music. In his adulthood, he formed a musical ensemble called "September" and continued to engage in music, until he immigrated to Israel in the first wave of immigration from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

He became a household name in Israeli culture after joining Ethnix, and later also put on the show "The Three Tenors" together with Dudu Fischer and Gabi Sadeh.

In his final years Shapovalov lived in the United States, where he continued to engage in music.