Photo by Cory Weaver
Ildar Abdrazakov, who made his stage debut in the San Francisco Opera production of Boito's Mefistofele last year, is now making his solo recording debut and will sing the title role in Borodin's Prince Igor at the Met next month.
The album features Abdrazakov in a return to his Russian roots with Power Players: Russian Arias for Bass on Delos, being released today. The conductor: Constantine Orbelian, with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and Kaunas State Choir from Lithuania.
The album offers many of the "greatest hits" of the Russian bass repertoire, with selections by Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev.
In advance of the Prince Igor production, on Jan. 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.