Press releases

25 Mar 2020

Belarus’ Bolshoi Theater to welcome world opera stars on 27 April

An archive photo

MINSK, 25 March (BelTA) - The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater of Belarus will welcome world opera stars Nadine Koutcher, Oksana Volkova and Pavel Petrov on 27 April, the organizers told BelTA.

“They make up the musical elite of the world. They are applauded by the leading opera houses. We are proud that all of them are Belarusians,” the theater said.

Pavel Petrov won Placido Domingo's Operalia in Lisbon in 2018. On the home stage, he will perform Rudolph's aria from Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme, with which he won this prestigious competition. The soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus is also working at the Graz Opera in Austria. He has performed in leading theaters in Russia, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Italy.

“We are still thinking about the program, but I really want to perform arias and duets from Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet and Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. I really hope to sing Andreika’s song from The Wedding in Malinovka by Boris Aleksandrov. There is an opinion that operetta is an easy genre but I would argue with it. The beauty and complexity of this aria will be appreciated by the audience at the concert. I will also perform zarzuela with which I won the Zarzuela competition at the 2018 Operalia,” Pavel Petrov said.

Nadine Koutcher is a winner of many international competitions, including the 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and is a holder of the two Golden Mask Awards. The soprano singer has won the hearts of numerous fans in Santiago, Geneva, Berlin, Madrid, Paris and other cities of the world.

Oksana Volkova is an Honored Artist of Belarus. She has performed at the world’s best opera venues, including the Latvian National Opera, the China National Opera, the London Royal Opera House, Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), Paris Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Hamburg State Opera, the Bolshoi Theater of Geneva, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the La Scala Theater in Milan. “I am still working on the program, but I think I will sing arias and duets from operas that are rarely performed on our stage. Pavel Petrov and Nadine Koutcher are wonderful singers. It is not so often that the Belarusian audience can listen to them in the theater’s productions due to their busy schedules. Such a concert is a gift for opera lovers,” said Oksana Volkova.

Art Director, People's Artist of the USSR Valentin Elizariev added that the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater continues to unite outstanding musicians as part of the Belarusians of the World project. “We already enjoyed the Rigoletto opera featuring Pavel Petrov and Vladislav Sulimsky. We will continue inviting Belarusian talented artists to take part in our performances, programs and concerts,” he said.