| Ildar Abdrazakov, guest soloist, bass, is one of the most sought-after basses of our time. He graduated from the Ufa State Arts Institute. In 1994 he joined the Bashkiria Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since 2000 he has been a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Ildar Abdrazakov has appeared with virtually every major opera company in the United States and Europe. At the Metropolitan Opera he performed the title roles in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, conducted by James Levine, in 2004 and Le nozze di Figaro in the 2012–2013 season; Verdi’s Attila in the2008–2009 season, as well Henry VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and Dosifey in Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina in 2011–2012 season. At La Scala, Abdrazakov joined Muti in the concert for the reopening of the theater in the 2004–05 season and sang Moses in a production of Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon that was recorded and released on CD and DVD. It was in the same role – in a new production led by Muti – that the bass made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2009, and he also sang Moses with the Italian maestro in Rome.
The singer first appeared at London’s Royal Opera House in 2009, performing Verdi’s Requiem in concert with Antonio Pappano, and he later returned there to sing Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia.
He opened the season 2012–2013 with the title role in Don Giovanni at the Washington National Opera. He sang in Il barbiere di Siviglia in Munich, Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera and King Philippe II in Don Carlos at the Turin Opera. At the Mariinsky Theatre the bass has performed Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust and Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma, Selim in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia and Assur in Rossini’s Semiramide. The Russian bass is noted for Verdi roles including Walter in Luisa Miller, the title character in Oberto, and Banquo in Macbeth. Ildar Abdrazakov has sung in Barcelona’s Teatre Liceu, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Paris’s Opéra Bastille, the San Francisco Opera, the Washington National Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera. He has given recitals in Russia, Italy, Japan, and the United States, and performed with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Among the noted conductors with whom he has collaborated are Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Gianandrea Noseda, Bernard de Billy, Riccardo Frizza, Riccardo Chailly, and Antonio Pappano. The bass’s 2010 live recording of Verdi’s Requiem with Muti and the CSO won two Grammy Awards. Since 2007 the singer has been an ambassador for the Zegna&Music project. Awards and Honours:- People's Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan
- Grand-Prix at the 5th Maria Callas International Television Competition “Nuove voci per Verdi” (Parma, 2000)
- Grand-Prix at the 1st Elena Obraztsova International Competition (St Petersburg, 1999)
- Grand-Prix at the 3rd Rimsky-Korsakov International Competition (St Petersburg, 1998)
- Prize-winner of the 1st Irina Arkhipova Television Competition “Moscow Grand Prix” (1997)
- 1st prize at the 17th Glinka International Competition (Moscow, 1997)
Link to the singer's personal web site
|
