In 2025, the world celebrates the centenary of People’s Artist of the USSR Irina Arkhipova — a legendary singer and actress, teacher, mentor of young talents, and tireless promoter of opera. The upcoming concert in Krasnoyarsk will feature a programme inspired by her iconic repertoire.

It was Irina Konstantinovna Arkhipova who first recognised and championed the talent of Dmitri Hvorostovsky. For more than forty years, she chaired the jury of the Glinka International Vocal Competition. In 1987, a young soloist from the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre won that very competition — a victory that launched Hvorostovsky onto the world’s greatest stages. He went on to win the Grand Prix in Toulouse in 1988 and in Cardiff in 1989.

It is therefore fitting that, in this anniversary year, the Hvorostovsky Arts Festival will include a gala concert dedicated to Irina Arkhipova.

Arkhipova made her Bolshoi Theatre debut in one of the most celebrated mezzo-soprano roles — Carmen in Bizet’s eponymous opera. She went on to achieve worldwide acclaim for her portrayals of Amneris (Aida), Eboli (Don Carlo), and Azucena (Il Trovatore) in Verdi’s operas; Lyubasha (The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov); Hélène Bezukhova (War and Peace by Prokofiev); Marina Mnishek (Boris Godunov), and Marfa (Khovanshchina) in Mussorgsky’s masterpieces, among many others.

The concert will bring together several distinguished mezzo-soprano singers: Daria Ryabinko and Olga Basova from the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre, along with guest artists Anastasia Lepeshinskaya and Polina Shamaeva (Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow), and Olesya Petrova (Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg).

Also appearing will be Yekaterina Begunovich (Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre), the winner of the 2024 Mikhail Glinka Competition, which was recently revived through the efforts of Albina Shagimuratova, herself a former protégé of Arkhipova.

Sharing the stage at the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre on October 26 will be graduates of the Faculty of Opera of the Siberian Institute of Arts — now soloists of the country’s leading theatres: Kristina Gontsa (soprano, Mariinsky Theatre), Vladimir Komovich (bass, Bolshoi Theatre), Vladimir Kudashev (Honoured Artist of Russia and Tatarstan, Novaya Opera), and Dmitri Romanko (bass, Mosconcert).

They will perform alongside the Krasnoyarsk company’s soloists: Anna Avakyan, Zoya Rzheplyanskaya, Daria Frolova, Denis Grechishkin, Valentin Kolesnikov, Andrey Kolobov, Sevastian Martyniuk, and Mergen Sandanov.