Ivan Velikanov is going to take to the conductor's stand on September 6 and 7 - the days the 43rd season of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre will open. In August 2020, the young conductor joined the theatre’s team.

Ivan Velikanov is already familiar to Krasnoyarsk fans of music art. He conducted Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden during the Stars Parade at the Opera Festival in 2018. In February 2020, Ivan took part in the Young Conductors project and presented his versions of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake and Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly.

Ivan Velikanov attended the music school of the Moscow Conservatory; later he graduated from that very conservatory majoring in composing music and conducting. He learned playing the pipe organ, harpsichord, and other old musical instruments. In 2009, Ivan created the first Russian ensemble of old wind instruments Alta Capella, in 2014 - the Tarusa Chamber Orchestra; he’s the artistic director of both of the ensembles now. He performs in various theatres of Russia and Europe as a guest conductor, as well as in various ensembles or solo as a multi-instrumentalist.

Ivan Velikanov has been taking up music both contemporary and the one that is almost thousand years old: he performs the Middle Ages music using historic music instruments and conducts classics and works of the 20th and 21st centuries. His first performance at the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre as a staff conductor will actually be a contemporary one: the world premiere of the music diptych Leningrad Symphony to the music by Alexei Syumak and Dmitri Shostakovich staged by Sergei Bobrov.

“Thanks to my lucky stars, I have an opportunity to work at very different theatre and concert venues, and this is highly interesting. In Moscow, a lot of events take place in the sphere of culture, and only a few remain memorable to spectators. In such a situation it is rather difficult to spot a niche for oneself. So, if you want to be sure that you have done something really significant, you’d rather work where the audience simultaneously has a profound interest and fewer alternatives. Here I have a favourable opportunity to work with a highly professional team - an orchestra and vocalists of the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. I can share my experience, bring my ideas to life at the theatre. I have firm creative plans.” said Ivan Velikanov.