Press review. M.P. Mussorgsky "Khovanshchina". Geneva March 2025.

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Dear friends!

We offer you a review of critical publications on the opera Khovanshchina by M.P. Mussorgsky, directed by Calixto Bieito. Performances at the Grand Théâtre de Genève took place on March 25, 27 and 30, April 1 and 3, 2025.

"The cast certainly stands out for its bright and energetic performance by Dmitry Ulyanov, and Khovansky's vocal flourish is as sharp as it is impressive. He has already distinguished himself in the last two productions by Calixto Bieito (War and Peace, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), demonstrating remarkable technique in both vocal performance and acting."

"As performed by Dmitry Ulyanov, the image of Ivan Khovansky acquires inner strength and psycho-naturalistic versatility. What appears before us is not a crazy, power-hungry fanatic-militarist, but a hostage of his own status and careless self-confidence. The tragedy of I. Khovansky is not that he wants power, but that he sincerely does not doubt his right to it. He is sure that power in Russia is due to him by his class affiliation with a noble family and on the basis of past military services to the fatherland. The collision is that it is really impossible to find or invent a single objection to these attitudes of the main character of "Khovanshchina". Ivan Khovansky is right in his own way, but he loses. And the Russian bass Dm. Ulyanov shows how and why this happens.
With vocal colors combined with convincing acting techniques, Ulyanov unfolds a panorama of the unbearable character of his hero, his uncontrollability and social loneliness. I. Khovansky's condescending pity for Emma looks like disgusted sentimentality, and the clowning in the most complex dialogue with Golitsyn unexpectedly turns into animal aggression. The singer creates an exhaustive image of a man doomed to death by his own inability to negotiate and take into account the interests of his allies. A profound and terribly relevant work."

"The great strength of this production is the Slavic voices with their unrivaled texture and delivery. We will talk not only about beautiful singing, but also about expressive, intense, passionate singing.
In the foreground is the powerful bass of Dmitry Ulyanov, who portrays the brutal, vulgar, down-to-earth leader of the Streltsy, Ivan Khovansky, who impresses from the very first phrase: “My children, Moscow and Rus' in the great pogrom…” On the stage of this theatre, he was Kutuzov from Prokofiev’s War and Peace and Boris from Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth (the first two parts of Calixto Bieito’s Russian trilogy in Geneva), and his powerful, very deep voice, his harshness show his character as a mercenary, sowing fear with his animal presence alone, the one whom the people glorify as a “white swan”…”

"And then, this production has a specific, exceptional cast. Dmitry Ulyanov, who has the makings of the best Russian bass, embodies in Khovansky a vulgar, pot-bellied faun in combat boots."

  • Nicolas Poinsot, (24heures, 26.03.25)

"A Khovanshchina worthy of the name would be incomplete without a Slavic cast, and Geneva offers us a truly remarkable cast. The central figure, Prince Khovansky, played by the Russian bass Dmitry Ulyanov, is simply terrifying! He is a vengeful giant-man-eater who roars like a tiger, but does not lose his musicality."

"The vocal parts are naturally dominated by the Slavic cast. First of all, it is worth mentioning the Russian bass Dmitry Ulyanov, who embodies Prince Ivan Khovansky as a powerful man, an egoist and enjoying life."

"The leader of the Streltsy, Prince Ivan Khovansky - Dmitry Ulyanov, whose virtuoso diction is matched by a massive physical presence - looks like both a mafia boss and a Moscow nightclub bouncer, in his tracksuit, gold chain and shoulder-length hair slicked back with gel. He does not see the trap that is closing in on him, and will bring about his own brutal end by acting like a bloodthirsty bandit in search of pleasure."

"The vocal line-up is dominated by bass Dmitry Ulyanov, whose voluminous, noble voice, with its characteristic timbre, fully embodies the image of Ivan Khovansky."

"First of all, it is worth mentioning the bass Dmitry Ulyanov (Prince Ivan Khovansky) - an indomitable stage beast with a powerful, sonorous, well-trained voice, playing vulgarity, shamelessness and drunkenness with the utmost precision. He happily goes on stage."