Ildar Abdrazakov to Release Debut Solo Album

Power Players features Abdrazakov's interpretations of such highlights of the genre as Varlaam's Drinking Song and the Coronation Scene from Boris Godunov, "O pole, pole" from Ruslan and Lyudmila, "Lyubvi vsye vozrasti pokorni" from Eugene Onegin, and "Ves' tabar spit" from Aleko, which may heard as a sample track here. The album was recorded with Lithuania's Kaunas City Symphony and Kaunas State Choir under the baton of Constantine Orbelian, whose extensive discography includes collaborations with Sondra Radvanovsky and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, among others.

Abdrazakov makes his first appearances in the monumental title role of Prince Igor when Borodin's defining Russian epic returns to the Met for the first time since 1917. With Gianandrea Noseda on the podium, the Met's new production is by Dmitri Tcherniakov, winner of four Golden Mask awards for Best Direction, and offers a psychological journey through the mind of its conflicted hero with the founding of the Russian nation as its backdrop. Abdrazakov headlines all nine performances, including the one on March 1 that will be transmitted to movie theaters worldwide in the Met's celebrated Live in HD series.

In anticipation of this landmark production, on January 15 the Met presents "Russian Exoticism: From Folk Music to Prince Igor," a special concert at Le Poisson Rouge, where the Russian bass will be joined by soprano Anna Netrebko and his Prince Igor co-stars, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili and bass Stefan Kocán. Their program will include arias from Prince Igor, selections by other Russian composers influenced by music from the east, and folk songs.

Later this season, the Russian bass may also be seen as Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra at Valencia's Palau des les Arts (March 27-April 9), as the four villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Vienna State Opera (May 23-June 4), and as Banquo in Macbeth - alongside Anna Netrebko, Simon Keenlyside, and Joseph Calleja - at the Munich Opera Festival (June 27-July 1). He also takes part in Berlioz's Messe Solennelle at Vienna's Musikverein (May 10-12), gives a one-night-only concert at the Royal Opera House Muscat (April 24), and teams up with tenor Ramón Vargas for a duo recital at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris (June 11). Earlier this season, Abdrazakov headlined the San Francisco Opera's opening night gala in his staged role debut as Boito's Mefistofele and opened the Rome Opera's season singing de Silva in Ernani under the baton of his longtime friend and mentor, Riccardo Muti. He also joined the renowned Italian conductor for a special Verdi bicentennial performance of Verdi's Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which was streamed live online around the world.

Further details of Power Players: Russian Arias for Bass and of Ildar Abdrazakov's upcoming engagements are provided below, and more information is available at the artist's web site: ildarabdrazakov.com.

Ildar Abdrazakov

Power Players: Russian Arias for Bass

Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra & Kaunas State Choir / Constantine Orbelian

CD label: Delos (DE 3456)

Digital release date: Jan 7

U.S. release date: Jan 28

European release date: Feb 25

Rachmaninov: "Ves' tabar spit" from Aleko

Glinka: "Farlaf's Rondo" from Ruslan and Lyudmila

Glinka: "O pole, pole" from Ruslan and Lyudmila

Borodin: "Ni sna ne otdykha" from Prince Igor

Mussorgsky: "Kak vo gorode bylo vo Kazane" from Boris Godunov

Rubinstein: "Na Vozdushnom akiane" from The Demon

Tchaikovsky: "Liubvi vsye vozrasti pokorni" from Eugene Onegin

Tchaikovsky: "Gospod' moi, esli greshen ia" from Iolanta

Glinka: "Chuyut pravdu!" from A Life for the Tsar

Prokofiev: "Velichavaya v solnechnykh luchakh" from War and Peace

Rimsky-Korsakov: "Song of the Viking Guest" from Sadko

Mussorgsky: "Coronation Scene" from Boris Godunov

Ildar Abdrazakov: upcoming engagements

Jan 15

New York, NY

The Met and LPR presents: "Russian Exoticism: From Folk Music to Prince Igor"

With Anna Netrebko, Anita Rachvelishvili, and Stefan Kocán

Le Poisson Rouge

Feb 6, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24; March 1, 4, 8

New York, NY

Borodin: Prince Igor (title role)

Metropolitan Opera

March 27, 30; April 3, 6, 9

Valencia, Spain

Verdi: Simon Boccanegra (Fiesco)

Palau de les Arts

April 24

Muscat, Oman

Royal Opera House, Muscat

In Concert

May 10, 11, 12

Vienna, Austria

Berlioz: Messe Solennelle

Musikverein / Riccardo Muti

May 23, 26, 29; June 1, 4

Vienna, Austria

Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann (Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle, Dapertutto)

Vienna State Opera

June 11

Paris, France

Les Grandes Voix: in concert with Ramón Vargas, tenor

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

June 27; July 1

Verdi: Macbeth (Banquo)

Bavarian State Opera