After winning prizes in numerous international competitions, Ildar Abdrazakov sang the title role in Rossini’s Moses at Milan’s La Scala in 2003 under the baton of Riccardo Muti (DVD). (DVD). He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the same role in 2009. He has performed in many of the world’s great opera houses where he sang the roles of Selim in Il Turco in Italia, Don Basilio in the Barber of Seville, Assur in Semiramide, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (a role in which he made his debut appearance at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1998), and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. He also played Leporello and the title role in Don Giovanni. His other roles include Mephistopheles—first in Faust, then La Damnation de Faust and finally Boito’s Mefistofele—Oroveso in Norma, the title roles in Attila and Oberto, Banco in Macbeth, Philip II in Don Carlo, Procida in Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Walter in Luisa Miller, and the four demonic roles in Les contes d’Hoffmann… Invited regularly to the Metropolitan Opera, he made his first appearances there performing the roles of Henry VIII (Anna Bolena, 2011), Dosifey (Khovanshchina, 2012) and the title role in Prince Igor (DVD Deutsche Grammophon) in 2014. He also sang the title role in Attila under the baton of Riccardo Muti, as well as Escamillo in Carmen, Figaro, Don Giovanni, Leporello, Assur in Semiramide, and Banco in Macbeth. More recently, he played Mustafà (L’Italiana in Algeri) at the Vienna Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera and the Salzburg Festival, Mephistopheles (Faust) at the Paris Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin and the Salzburg Festival, Silva (Ernani) in Salzburg, Geneva and Milan, Attila at the Mariinsky Theatre and Milan’s La Scala, Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Escamillo (Carmen) and the title role in Boris Godunov at the Paris Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera, Philip II (Don Carlo) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bolshoi Theatre, London’s Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Paris Opera, and Alfonso d’Este (Lucrezia Borgia) at the Salzburg Festival. During the 2019-2020 season, he sang the title role in Prince Igor at the Paris Opera, Méphistophélès (La Damnation de Faust) at the Metropolitan Opera, Philip II in Salzburg, Munich and Dresden, and Attila at the Baden-Baden Festival. He has recorded two solo albums, Power Players (featuring some of the great Russian basso roles) and Verdi, as well as an album of French and Italian Opera duets with Rolando Villazón. He is also the artistic director of the Elena Obraztsova International Academy in Saint Petersburg.

Ildar AbdrazakovBass