Askar Abdrazakov

• Prize-winner at the All-Union Mikhail Glinka Competition (1991)
• Prize-winner at the Unisa Transnet International Vocalists’ Competition in Pretoria (1994, Grand Prix)
• Prize-winner at the International Fyodor Chaliapin Vocalists’ Competition in Kazan (1994, 1^st prize)
• Prize-winner at the International Maria Callas Competition in Athens (1995, Grand Prix)
• Prize-winner at the International Sergei Rachmaninoff Competition (1998, 1^st prize)

Askar Abdrazakov was born in Ufa, a city rich in cultural traditions, where Fyodor Chaliapin and Rudolf Nureyev began their careers and where Vladimir Spivakov was born. After graduating from the Ufa State Conservatoire (class of Professor M.G. Murtazina) he undertook a postgraduate study at the Moscow State Conservatoire (class of the legendary Irina Arkhipova). While still a student, the singer started winning international competitions at which he took first prizes and grand prix exclusively.

In 1994 he was invited to perform Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire under the baton of Vladimir Fedoseyev, and he also performed in Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia at the Bregenz Festival (Austria). The same year, he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, appearing as Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Konchak (Prince Igor).

He went on to sign contracts with the world’s greatest opera houses, among them the Bolshoi Theatre, the Mariinsky Theatre, the Metropolitan Opera, the Washington Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, Barcelona’s Teatre del Liceu, NHK Hall in Tokyo, the Teatro Colуn in Buenos Aires, Madrid’s Teatro Real, Paris’ Thйвtre du Chвtelet, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin’s Deutsche Oper, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Megaron Hall in Athens, Parma’s Teatro Regio, Florence’s Teatro Comunale and the Teatro Regio and Teatro Massimo in Turin.

Askar Abdrazakov has worked with such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovich, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Michel Plasson, Plбcido Domingo, Marcello Viotti, Bruno Bartoletti, Lorin Maazel, Bertrand de Billy, Oleg Caetani, Maurizio Arena, Daniele Gatti, Alexander Anisimov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Jean- Claude Casadesus, Daniel Oren, Mark Ermler, Jesъs Lуpez-Cobos, Nello Santi, Mark Elder and Ralf Weikert to name but a few.

The singer has a vast repertoire including the roles of Boris (Boris Godunov), Attila (Attila), Filippo II (Don Carlo), Zaccaria (Nabucco), Banco (Macbeth), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Don Quichotte (Don Quichotte), Mйphistophйlиs (Faust), Mefistofele (Mefistofele), Kochubei (Mazepa) and Don Giovanni and Leporello (Don Giovanni).