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October 16, the birthday of the famous artist, marked the opening day of this year's Dmitri Hvorostovsky Festival. 

On the stage of the Great Hall of the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic, the renowned Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta was presented to celebrate the occasion. The title role in the opera was first performed by Maria Motolygina, a graduate of the Bolshoi Theatre Youth Opera Programme (soprano, Russia). The concert was also attended by soloists of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Moscow Academic Musical Theatre, and the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. The Krasnoyarsk Academic Symphony Orchestra was conducted by the artistic director of the Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia and the Royal London Symphony Orchestra maestro Vasily Petrenko.

The choice of opera was not accidental: the Festival traditionally refers to the works in which Dmitri Hvorostovsky himself shone on stage: the recording of Iolanta on the Philips label (1994) became the first recording of a Russian opera by a young artist from Krasnoyarsk together with the renowned Mariinsky Theatre team under the direction of Valery Gergiev...

Meanwhile, the Philharmonic's Ceremonial Hall presented a celebratory exposition "Dmitri Hvorostovsky: Don Giovanni and the heroes of the romantic era". The main exhibits are paintings and graphic works inspired by the personality of the famous artist and created especially for the festival by the artist Akhsar Muriev (Russia). The central part of the exhibition was occupied by the stage costumes of Dmitri Hvorostovsky from the collections of the Vienna State Opera (Austria) and Atelier Tirelli (Italy).

The Artistic Director of the Festival Anton Levakhin says: «We are happy that Dmitri Hvorostovsky is returning to Krasnoyarsk once again in the form of this Festival. It gives us the opportunity to perform some great pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Sergeevich Prokofiev, Giuseppe Verdi, Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff and many other outstanding composers. Works from the opera singer's repertoire, his favorite operas, symphonic and vocal compositions will be the starting point on this musical journey. As Dmitri himself said during his last concert in Krasnoyarsk: «I just had to come back!»

The Festival will run events until October 31.