PERFORMERS:
Nikolai Gassiev (tenor)
Andrei Zorin (tenor)
Vladimir Zhivopistsev (tenor)
Nikolai Putilin (baritone)
Askar Abdrazakov (bass)
Sergei Aleksashkin (bass)
Ilya Bannik (bass)
Gennady Bezzubenkov (bass)
Vladimir Feliauer (bass)
Grigory Karasev (bass)
Mikhail Kit (bass)
Alexander Morozov (bass)
Mikhail Petrenko (bass)
Edward Tsanga (bass)
Yuri Vlasov (bass)
Vladimir Vaneyev (bass)
The Mariinsky Chorus and Orchestra
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Conductor: Boris Gruzin
PROGRAMME:
arias and scenes from Mikhail Glinka’s operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila, Modest Musorgaky’s Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Mazepa and Iolanta, Sergei Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo and Simon Boccanegra, Charles Gounod’s Faust and Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele
Stage Director: Irkin Gabitov
Lighting Designer: Sergei Lukin
Designer: Sergei Grachov
Costume Designer: Anna Yakuschenko
Concert Mistresses: Alla Brosterman, Marina Mishuk, Irina Soboleva
“I believe that Minzhilkiev will go down in the history of the Chaliapin tradition (for however long this continues to survive) with such power and dazzle that there are very few voices indeed that can rival him. His thirty-year-long stage career was on the whole a happy one. He sang a huge number of roles and the geography of his tours was absolutely immense; he performed at all of the world’s major music capitals.
Bulat was unrivalled in such roles as Konchak and Ivan Khovansky. I remember him singing as Konchak in Palermo. You had the sensation that when he began to sing the acoustics of the auditorium changed, his voice was so rich in terms of its timbre and soulfulness. This sensation emerged in an almost mystical fashion. Bulat’s voice blended with and soared above the orchestra so naturally that I never had to dampen the fire of the orchestra’s playing – the orchestra has a soul too and it wants its voice to be heard. Some singers are simply unable to compete with the orchestra. This was never the case with Bulat, and he never had any problems commanding the orchestra. I had a special fondness for Bulat which was hard to disguise. Apropos, not just because of the richness of his voice – it is important to remember the selflessness and nobleness, the serenity with which Bulat dealt with problems, injustices and difficulties that are the lot of any performer. Possibly within him self, somewhere deep down he hid certain tragedies, but he never lost his temper with the company. He was never cold to anyone, and he never displayed any aggression. Never. That is an amazing quality. I would like to pay tribute to him not just as an artiste but as a human being too. You could have bowed down before him – his attitude was such that he was prepared to serve the theatre day and night without ever asking what the cost would be, what awards or titles he would receive and to where he would be travelling.
”
Valery Gergiev
Bulat Minzhilkiev (1997−1940) was born in Kirghizia. He graduated from the Tashkent Conservatoire in 1966 (singing class of N. Kalinkova). He was immediately invited to join the Kirghiz Opera and Ballet Theatre. The great heights of the singer’s artistic career are linked with the Mariinsky Theatre, which he was invited to join by Valery Gergiev in the early 1980s. He performed the roles on Boris Godunov, Méphistophélès in Faust, Konchak in Prince Igor, Ivan Khovansky in Khovanshchina, the Inquisitor in Don Carlo and in The Fiery Angel and Boris Timofeyevich in Katerina Ismailova. In the early 1990s he worked with the Bolshoi Theatre and was a regular guest performer at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.
A prize-winner at International Competitions, he was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1985.
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