Opera and Sports Stars Gala Evening

On June 24, the Irina Viner-Usmanova Palace of Gymnastics will host a spectacular show featuring celebrated rhythmic gymnasts performing to live accompaniment by stars of the international classical music scene. This unique format, bringing together music and sport in a harmonious fusion, will be presented to the public for the first time.

Alongside Dina and Arina Averina and Lala Kramarenko, talented and highly decorated athletes who are members of Russia’s Olympic team, the event will feature renowned stars of the classical music world. Among them is opera diva Maria Guleghina, one of the world’s most celebrated singers, whose performances are consistently met with standing ovations at leading opera houses around the globe. Also appearing that evening will be Bolshoi Theatre soloist Najmiddin Mavlyanov and acclaimed pop singer Alexander Kogan, a multiple winner of the Golden Gramophone, RU.TV, and Song of the Year awards.

The festive gala will feature a large symphony orchestra conducted by conductor and pianist Mikhail Shekhtman, recipient of the Opus Klassik Award. The program will include spectacular and virtuoso performances by Russian gymnasts set to music from the world’s operatic repertoire and melodies from renowned symphonic works.

A special performance will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Taking place on the eve of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, this large-scale gala will be the first in a planned series of events at the Palace of Gymnastics bringing together internationally acclaimed stars of classical music and sport.

The outstanding gymnasts representing Russia’s Olympic team—Dina and Arina Averina and Lala Kramarenko—need little introduction. Twin sisters Dina and Arina are Honored Masters of Sport of Russia and members of the national team.

Arina is a four-time World Champion, seven-time European Champion, three-time World Games Champion, and two-time Russian All-Around Champion. Dina is a thirteen-time World Champion, including three all-around titles, a six-time European Champion, World Games Champion, three-time European Games Champion, and two-time Russian All-Around Champion.

Sixteen-year-old rhythmic gymnast Lala Kramarenko is a three-time World Champion and three-time European Junior Champion, a silver medalist at the Russian Championships in the individual all-around, and a four-time Russian Junior Champion in the individual all-around.

In addition to the celebrated athletes, the show will feature renowned performers from the classical music scene, including opera diva Maria Guleghina. “Cinderella from Russia,” “a Russian soprano with Verdi’s music in her blood,” and “a vocal wonder”—these are just some of the names critics and countless admirers have given this celebrated prima donna.

Guleghina became internationally renowned for her powerful vocal and dramatic interpretations of Tosca and Turandot in Puccini’s operas of the same names. Audiences enthusiastically welcome her at opera houses around the world, from La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera to the Vienna State Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Her repertoire includes leading roles in Aida, Manon Lescaut, Norma, Fedora, Adriana Lecouvreur, Macbeth, La Traviata, The Queen of Spades, Otello, and many other operas. Today, Maria Guleghina is considered one of the outstanding interpreters of the dramatic soprano repertoire, thanks to her powerful, warm, and at the same time energetic voice, as well as her exceptional acting abilities.

Tenor Najmiddin Mavlyanov is a leading soloist of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre and a guest soloist at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Flanders Opera, and other leading opera houses around the world.

In February 2020, Najmiddin performed the title role in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko in a production directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. For this performance, he received the prestigious Golden Mask Award in 2021.

The conductor for the evening will be Mikhail Shekhtman, recipient of the German OPUS Klassik Award in 2018 and one of the most sought-after musicians of his generation, who collaborates with leading orchestras in Russia and abroad.

Maestro Shekhtman performs at the world’s finest concert venues, from the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. His recordings and performances are broadcast by the leading classical music platform Medici, as well as BBC Radio 3, Bavarian Radio, Radio Orpheus, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, SWR, NDR, MDR, and many other broadcasters.