Soloists of the Hvorostovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre - laureate of international competitions Daria Ryabinko and Honoured Artist of Buryatia Mikhail Pirogov - took part in the 38th Chaliapin International Opera Festival. The festival was held in Kazan.

For Mikhail Pirogov, it was a debut on the Kazan stage. He performed Manrico in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore). It’s not her first birthday (February 16) that Daria Ryabinko celebrates within the walls of the Tatar Music Theatre. Daria performed the part of Queen Anastasia in the Tatar national opera Sujumbike by Reseda Akhiyarova and the part of Fenena in Verdi's masterpiece Nabucco.

Daria believes that this ancient story can be differently rendered by each artist.

“It is generally accepted that Nabucco is a static and even outdated opera. I think that whoever has this conviction may uphold it after watching the opera. And it's not that on stage we were trying to make spectators change their minds. I think it all depends on the acuity of perception of a viewer himself. How relevant is religion today? Of course, it’s still important. But the opera also touches upon questions of love. duty, religion, and how to combine all this in oneself. Someone isn’t able to combine it. Therefore, there is a whole life as it is in the opera: continuous state of exploration, ambivalency and tough choices.” said Daria Ryabinko.