Herman from Moscow, Tomsky from St. Petersburg

Guests are coming to us again! On 15 February, Mikhail Gubsky (Novaya Opera) and Vladislav Sulimsky (Mariinsky Theatre) will appear on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades.

The Honoured Artist of Russia, soloist of the Novaya Opera and guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia Mikhail Gubsky will perform the role of Herman. (By the way for this role Mikhail was nominated for the prestigious the Golden Mask National Theatre Award). Critics write about Gubsky in the role of Herman: ‘The role of Herman is deep and tragic. The artist performed the role with full dedication. His hero is vile, pathetic and simultaneously in love and devastated… The singer has long won the love of the public thanks to his rare stage charm and high professionalism. His pathos and sincerity and, most importantly, his velvety "intoxicating" voice cannot leave anybody in the hall indifferent...’

Mikhail Gubsky has taken part in numerous international projects in the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Russia and Cyprus. He worked with world famous conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, Yevgeny Kolobov, Fuat Mansurov, Alexander Vedernikov, Mark Ermler, Yuri Kochnev, Vladimir Kovalenko.
Gubsky’s repertoire includes more than 60 roles in operas by Giuseppe Verdi (Alfredo in La Traviata and Duke in Rigoletto), Gaetano Donizetti (Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore and Guglielmo in Viva la Mamma), Pyotr Tchaikovsky (Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Vakula in The Slippers and Vaudemont in Iolantа), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Mozart in Mozart and Salieri, King Berendey in The Snow Maiden, Lykov in The Tsar’s Bride), Sergey Rachmaninov (Paolo in Francesca da Rimini and Young Gipsy in Aleko), Giacomo Puccini (Rodolfo in La boheme), Stanisław Moniuszko (Pan Damazy in The Haunted Manor) and many others.

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Mikhail Gubsky already performed on our stage in the roles of Herman, Calaf and Radames. But the Belarusian audience will hear Sulimsky in the role of Tomsky for the first time, although our audience has already been delighted by the soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre. Vladislav participated in concert programmes in Minsk (Oksana Volkova's recital and gala concert of the Christmas Opera Forum-2021). The audience of the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus applauded Sulimsky when he appeared in the roles of Rigoletto and Macbeth in Verdi’s operas and also made his debut as Valentin in Gounod's Faust. Now he will perform the role of Tomsky.

Baritone Vladislav Sulimsky was born in Molodechno, Belarus. After graduation from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire he became a member of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers and in 2004 joined the company of the Mariinsky Theatre. Since October 2004, he has trained under Professor R. Metre in Milan. He has taken part in master classes given by Elena Obraztsova, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Vladimir Atlantov, Dennis O'Neal and Renata Scotto. Vladislav is a winner of numerous competitions id Roma, Moscow, St Petersburg, Warsaw, etc. In 2016 Sulimsky received the prestigeous St. Petersburg Teatre Award "Golden Soffit" for his role of Simon Boccanegra at the Mariinsky Theatre. And in 2017 he won two more opera awards: the Onegin Award for the role of Montfort in the production Vespri siciliani (nomination "Master of the Stage") and the Casta Diva Award (nomination "Singer of the Year").

As a guest soloist, Vladislav Sulimsky has performed at the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, theatres in Basel, Malmo, Stuttgart, Riga, Dallas, at the Edinburgh Festival, Savonlinna Festival, Baltic Sea Festival, at the Opera Festival in Sankt Margarethen (Austria) and Salzburg Festival.

Many say that Tchaikovsky wrote his Queen of Spades, and it is much more convincing than Pushkin's original. You, dear viewers, will be able to decide whether this is true on 15 February.
This evening, the performance will feature Marina Aksentsova, Anastasia Moskvina, Alexander Keda, Elena Salo, Alexander Krasnodubsky, Ekaterina Mikhnovets, Victor Mendelev, Yanosh Nelepa, Andrei Matyushonok, Diana Trifonova, Dzmitry Trafimuk, Elena Tabolich. Ivan Kostyakhin will conduct.