Debuts in Khovanshchina

Vladimir Galouzine – a “dazzling Russian tenor, a singer of strong temperament, open passions and living emotions” – has already performed the role of Andrei Khovansky in this opera at the Mariinsky Theatre. The singer made his debut as Vasily Golitsyn this season at the Metropolitan Opera. Of this significant event in the cultural life of New York, the internet portal OperaNews enthusiastically wrote that “The whole storm of emotions and passions is within. On the outside, this is a clever, quiet and reasonable man of the State... The voice alone, Galouzine’s inimitable velvety voice, expresses everything: alarm, fear, confusion and uncertainty... Galouzine’s task is incredibly complex – he must express the nature of his character in just one act. Nevertheless, he coped with it magnificently and his performance as Golitsyn emerged as the key link between Peter and Khovansky.” One critic stated that “this was, beyond any shadow of a doubt, an exceptional performance combining technical brilliance with a deep understanding of the image.” As the singer admitted in an interview for Voice of America, in Musorgsky he particularly admires “how the composer understands the Russian soul.”

Maxim Aksenov, a “powerful yet at the same time pleasantly spinto tenor,” will be making his debut in the role of Andrei Khovansky. The singer’s repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre includes such significant dramatic characters from Russian and Italian classical operas as the Pretender in Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Herman in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades as well as lyrical heroes such as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata.