Ildar Abdrazakov
Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre
People’s Artist of Russia
Ildar Abdrazakov is a world-renowned opera singer, stage director, conductor, and public figure. He holds the title of People’s Artist of Russia and serves as Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre and the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theatre. He was born in Ufa, graduated from Zagir Ismagilov Ufa State Institute of Arts (class of Professor Milyausha Murtazina). In 1994, he became a soloist of the Bashkir State Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1998, he made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre as Figaro (“The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart), and in 2000 he joined the company. Thanks to Ildar Abdrazakov, rarely performed Verdi operas such as “Attila” (2010) and “The Sicilian Vespers” (2017) were introduced into the Mariinsky Theatre repertoire. He is also a guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia. In the late 1990s, the singer became a winner of several prestigious vocal competitions, receiving the Grand Prix five times, including the Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Competition in St Petersburg (1998), the Elena Obraztsova Competition in St Petersburg (1999), and Maria Callas New Verdi Voices Competition in Parma (2000).
Since the early 2000s, he has conquered the stages of the world’s leading opera houses, making successful debuts at La Scala in Milan (in “La sonnambula” by Bellini as Rodolfo), the Vienna State Opera (in “Carmen” by Bizet as Escamillo), Deutsche Oper Berlin (in “Semiramide” by Rossini as Assur), the Metropolitan Opera in New York (in “Don Giovanni” by Mozart as Masetto), Los Angeles Opera (in “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart as Figaro), Washington National Opera (in “Don Giovanni” as Leporello), the Paris National Opera (in “Luisa Miller” by Verdi as Count Walter; in “Boris Godunov” by Mussorgsky in the title role), the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London (in Verdi’s Requiem), the Bavarian State Opera (in “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini as Basilio), the Bolshoi Theatre (in “Don Carlo” by Verdi as Philip II), and the Dutch National Opera (in “Prince Igor” by Borodin in the title role).
In 2002, he first participated in the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (in “Stabat Mater”), and in 2009 in the Salzburg Festival (“Mosè in Egitto” by Rossini as Moses), where he subsequently returned multiple times, performing roles in operas by Rimsky-Korsakov, Verdi, Gounod, Donizetti, and others. He regularly appears at festivals such as “Stars of the White Nights” in St Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, and international winter arts festivals in Moscow and Sochi.
He has collaborated with leading conductors including Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Muti, Yury Bashmet, Antonio Pappano, James Levine, Riccardo Chailly, and Gianandrea Noseda. Ildar Abdrazakov is a two-time Grammy Award winner in the categories “Best Classical Album” and “Best Choral Performance”. In 2016, he founded the Ildar Abdrazakov Foundation for the support and promotion of young talents and the development of international cultural relations. Since 2018, the Foundation has held an annual International Music Festival. In 2024, he became a member of the Presidential Council for Culture and Arts of the Russian Federation. Since December 2024, he has been Artistic Director of the Sevastopol State Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 2025, Ildar Abdrazakov presented “Aleko” by Sergei Rachmaninoff — the premiere production of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theatre — in which he served as stage director and performed the title role. The production was presented at the International Opera and Ballet Festival “Chersonesos” in Sevastopol and at the Zaryadye Concert Hall in Moscow.
Ildar Abdrazakov is a People’s Artist of Russia, a recipient of the Order of Friendship of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Order of Salavat Yulaev (“National Hero of the Republic of Bashkortostan”). He has been awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and Arts, the Golden Mask National Theatre Award, as well as the Dmitri Shostakovich, Casta Diva, and BraVo awards. He has also received the Franco Abbiati Italian Critics’ Award and the Villa Bertelli Foundation Award for “outstanding performance in the true Italian tradition”.
In March 2026, Ildar Abdrazakov was appointed the Artistic Director of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.
