Ildar Abdrazakov will sing Boris Godunov at premiere in Monte Carlo

On April 22, Ildar Abdrazakov will perform the primary aria in Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov at the premiere of the Opera Monte Carlo. The new performance will be the third production of Boris in the singer's career.

Ildar Abdrazakov's debut as the Russian Tsar took place in 2018 at the premiere of the Paris National Opera. Since then, he has twice turned to this role and both times in Russian theaters. In the summer of 2020 - in a concert performance at the Mariinsky Theater directed by Valery Gergiev in January 2021 - for the first time in the Bolshoi Theater performances.

At the Opera Monte Carlo, Ildar's partners will be Russian artists: Alexander Kravets (Shuisky), Alexey Tikhomirov (Pimen), Oleg Balashov (Grigory), Ilya Kutyukhin (Andrey Shchelkalov), Alexander Teliga (Varlaam).

Also, young singers are involved in the performances - participants of the Ildar Abdrazakov International Music Festival. The part of the Holy Fool will be performed by our fellow countryman, a native of Ufa, Kirill Belov, who performed at the festival in 2019 and 2020. The role of Fedor will be played by Marina Yarskaya, a participant in master classes in this season's educational program.

A consolidated version of Mussorgsky's opera, published by Pavel Lamm in the late 1920s, will be performed in Monaco. The Teatro Monte-Carlo turns to this version for the first time.

The play is staged by the drama and opera director Jean-Romain Vesperini, known for his collaboration with La Scala, the Paris National Opera, the Salzburg Festival, productions for the Bolshoi Theater, and the Ural Opera Ballet Theater. The chief conductor of the Ural Opera, Konstantin Chudovsky, has been invited as the musical director. The new production is being staged in collaboration with the Opera House of Avignon.

The performances of the premiere series are announced for April 22, 27, 29, and May 2. Due to Monaco and France's new restrictions imposed by the governments, all performances will start at 14.00.

In May, Ildar Abdrazakov's concerts are scheduled in Berlin and Moscow. On May 27, the 4th International Music Festival, established by the singer, will solemnly open in Ufa. In addition to Ufa, the festival will be presented in Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Tobolsk, and Astrakhan and will last until July 7.