AIDA GARIFULLINA TO PERFORM AT THE 2018 WORLD CUP OPENING CEREMONY WITH ROBBIE WILLIAMS
NEW EP, MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW, TO BE RELEASED JUNE 13
11 June 2018 (Toronto, ON) - Dazzling young Russian soprano Aida Garifullina will duet with international pop superstar Robbie Williams at the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Thursday, June 14 in front of a global audience of millions. She will take to the stage to perform two songs with Williams at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, just half an hour before the start of the first match between Russia and Saudi Arabia (scheduled for 6pm local time).
Garifullina says: “The FIFA World Cup 2018 is the one of the most anticipated sporting events this year and I am so excited to be performing alongside Robbie, whose songs I have loved since I first started singing as young girl. It’s such an honour and I hope I can do my country proud and give the competition the amazing kick-start it deserves.”
Garifullina is also taking part in the Red Square Gala Concert in Moscow the day before, joining a host of famous names from the world of opera – including Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo and Juan Diego Flórez – for a celebratory performance which will be broadcast around the world on Wednesday, June 13. Garifullina will perform “Casta Diva” and the signature track from her award-winning debut album, Je veux vivre. Watch the video for “Je veux vivre” HERE.
To coincide with her World Cup performances, Garifullina is releasing a brand-new three-track EP entitled Midnight in Moscow which will be available via Decca Classics/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, on June 13. The EP features her classic rendition of the title track, plus two other songs: “Tenderness” (“Nezhnost”), the iconic Russian popular song of the 1960s, and “White Bird”, specially composed for Garifullina by Igor Krutoy. All three pieces showcases her stunning voice and celebrate her musical talent as one of the rising stars of the opera world today.
ABOUT AIDA GARIFULLINA
Born in 1987 in Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, Garifullina received her first singing lessons from her mother before studying with the renowned tenor Siegfried Jerusalem in Nuremberg and Claudia Visca in Vienna. She made her debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in January 2013 and the Financial Times hailed her as a “major new talent”.
Garifullina’s greatest breakthrough happened in 2013 when she won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition. Since then she has gone on to perform in opera houses and concert halls around the world – from Vienna State Opera (where she is a regular performer) and the Mariinsky Theatre to Wigmore Hall and the Vienna Musikverein. She has duetted with some of opera’s greatest stars including Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli and Rolando Villazón.
As well as appearing in Stephen Frears’ film Florence Foster Jenkins, Garifullina has appeared on German, Austrian, French and Russian TV many times, including televised performances at Vienna and Dresden Opera Balls, Rolando Villazón’s Stars von Morgen on ZDF and the 2016 Bastille Day Concert in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, broadcast to millions.
Garifullina signed to Decca Classics in 2015 and released her self-titled debut two years later. The album features works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as folk tunes and some of her personal favourite songs.
Garifullina is one of today’s most popular Instagram opera stars with 450,000 followers. She has a packed diary of concert and opera performances and will make her eagerly-anticipated debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2019.
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Aida Garifullina - Midnight in Moscow:
- Midnight in Moscow - Soloviev-Sedoy
- Tenderness ‘Nezhnost’ - Pakhmutova
- White Bird - Krutoy