Soccer World Cup Performer Aida Garifullina: Midnight In Moscow

The duet between dazzling young Russian soprano Aida Garifullina has been busy at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow, performing with pop superstar Robbie Williams at the Opening Ceremony front of a global audience of billions and singing  ‘Casta Diva’ and the signature track from her award-winning debut album ‘Je veux vivre’ 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 was broadcast around the world.

To coincide with her World Cup performances, Aida is releasing a brand new three-track EP entitled ‘Midnight in Moscow’ which will be available on Decca Classics from 13th June. It 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 Aida by Igor Krutoy. All three pieces showcases Aida’s stunning voice and celebrate her musical talent as one of the rising stars of the opera world today.

Garifullina will make her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2019. Born in 1987 in Kazan, in the Republic of Tatarstan, Aida 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. That year, she won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition. Since then she has performed around the world – from the Vienna State Opera 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.

She appeared in Stephen Frears’ film Florence Foster Jenkins, and has appeared on European 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. Aida 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.

The tracks: ‘Midnight in Moscow’ 1. Midnight in Moscow – Soloviev-Sedoy/ 2. Tenderness ‘Nezhnost’ – Pakhmutova/ 3. White Bird – Krutoy