The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg.
Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1966. She was the wife of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and mother to their two daughters, Olga and Elena Rostropovich.
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg. He was formerly chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Munich Philharmonic.
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the theatre's general director.
Nina Ananiashvili is a Georgian ballerina and artistic director of the State Ballet of Georgia. She has been described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time, and in 2002 was named Best Ballerina of the Year by the US Dance Magazine. Ananiashvili has been a prominent fixture of the Soviet, Russian and Georgian ballet scene for decades. Shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain, in 1987 a New York Magazine critic praised her as "the best thing about the Bolshoi's Giselle whether she appeared in the title role or as the queen of the wilis." In 2014, a film of her 1991 performance in Giselle with the Bolshoi ballet was released.
Natalia Igorevna Bessmertnova was a Soviet prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet and a People's Artist of the USSR (1976).
Sergei Yakovlevich Lemeshev was a Soviet and Russian opera singer and director. People's Artist of the USSR (1950).
Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev is a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer and choreographer. He was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet and its director from 1995 to 2000. He was best known for his role of Spartacus and his powerful leaps and turns. He received the People's Artist of the USSR (1973).
Sergei Yurevitch Filin is a Russian ballet dancer and the former artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater from 2011 through 2016. He is currently the Director of the Young Artists Ballet Program at the Bolshoi Theatre. Previously, he was the artistic director of the ballet at the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre, serving in this capacity from 2008 to 2011.
Igor Morozov is a Russian-Ukrainian opera singer (baritone)
Badri Maisuradze is a Georgian tenor opera singer, a leading dramatic tenor of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia.
Dinara Alieva is an Azerbaijani and Russian opera singer (soprano). She is currently a soloist at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, where she made her debut in 2009 as Liù in Puccini's opera Turandot. People's Artist of Azerbaijan (2018).
Natalia Stepanovna Ermolenko-Yuzhina was a Russian opera singer (soprano).
Tamara Andreyevna Milashkina was a Russian lyric and dramatic soprano. A member of the Bolshoi Theatre from 1958 to 1989, she also appeared at La Scala in Milan, throughout Europe and at the Metropolitan Opera. She focused on roles by Tchaikovsky such as Lisa in Pique Dame and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. She was the first Soviet soprano to be trained at the studio of La Scala in Milan, and her Italian repertoire included Verdi's Leonora in Il trovatore, Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Aida, and Puccini's Tosca.
Lyudmila Stepanivna Shemchuk is a Ukrainian operatic mezzo-soprano. She is an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1984).
Anna Vladimirovna Nechaeva is Russian soprano singer who was born in Saratov and used attend its Conservatory in 1996. Later she was offered to perform the role of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and by 2003 became a soloist at the Saint Petersburg Opera where she continued her original role as well as other title roles in Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly, and Suor Angelica. From 2008 to 2011 she became a soloist at the Mikhaylovsky Theatre where she performed roles of Nedda in Pagliacci and Rachel in The Jews as well as the title roles of Rusalka and of course Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. In 2012, she made her first public appearance with Bolshoi Theatre where she sang in The Enchantress portraying Nastasya becoming soloist there the same year. After her debut, she performed such roles as Iolanta in an opera of the same name as well as Liu in Turandot and Yaroslavna in Prince Igor.
Alisa Vladimirovna Kolosova is a Russian mezzo-soprano.
Kirill Semyonovich Serebrennikov is a Russian stage and film director and theatre designer. Since 2012, he has been the artistic director of the Gogol Center in Moscow. He is one of Russia's leading theatre and cinema directors and winner of numerous international awards.
Dina Kuznetsova is an American lyric dramatic operatic soprano of Russian descent who has appeared in leading roles on the stages of international opera houses from New York to Sydney. She has focused on Italian and Slavic repertoires. Her signature roles include Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly by Puccini, the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka, and Kátya in Kátya Kabanová by Janáček.
Elena Stikhina is a Russian opera singer (soprano).
