On December 10, the Gala Night dedicated to the birthday of Irina Igorevna Dolzhenko, People's Artist of Russia, principal singer of the Bolshoi Theatre, will be held on the stage of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Eboli, Azucena, Santuzza, Countess, Amneris, Carmen, Lel, Cherubino... The entire country knows Irina Dolzhenko in these bright mezzo-soprano parts. Krasnoyarsk opera fans also know her pretty well: Irina Igorevna has many a times appeared on the stage of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre as a guest artist. She has done a lot for our theatre as the head of the opera company, casting director, and vocal tutor.

For more than forty years of her creative journey, Irina Dolzhenko has performed several dozen parts in productions of the world opera repertoire. At the gala concert, Irina Igorevna will display her talent by singing excerpts from the operas of Verdi, Mussorgsky, Bizet, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cilea.

Irina Dolzhenko is not only a brilliant performer but also an experienced teacher: she teaches at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music and also shares the secrets of vocal mastery with Krasnoyarsk singers at master classes. Invited soloists - soprano singer Ksenia Dementieva and bass-baritone Denis Stebunov - will come to stage along with Irina Igorevna. Ksenia will present the virtuoso bolero of Elena from the opera I Vespri Siciliani by Verdi, the aria of Tosca from the eponymous opera by Puccini and a scene from the opera Aida by Verdi in a duet with Irina Dolzhenko. Denis will perform arias from two famous Russian operas – The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov (the aria of Gryaznoy) and The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky (Tomsky’s aria), as well as an excerpt from The Tsar’s Bride in a duet with Irina Dolzhenko.

Irina Igorevna herself chose real mezzo-soprano hits for her solo performance: Habanera and Seguidilla from Carmen by Bizet, as well as the scene of Marfa’s fortune-telling from Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky. In the first part of the concert, the audience will also hear romance art songs by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Georgy Sviridov. Irina Dolzhenko’s permanent accompanist Daria Kasatkina will play the piano.

The concert will be hosted by theatrical and film actor Igor Voinarovsky who will also perform Triquet's verses from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.