Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to Livestream Kristina Mkhitaryan’s ‘Manon’
By Francisco SalazarThe Tchaikovsky Concert Hall’s performance of Massenet’s “Manon” will be livestreamed on YouTube on Sept. 12, 2025.
The concert hall, sponsored by Putin’s Ministry of Culture, is one of the largest in Russia, and will showcase soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan in her first of three Russian appearances this season. She will sing the title role while Liparit Avetisyan, who makes his Metropolitan Opera debut this season, will sing Des Grieux.
They will be joined by Polina Peletskaya, Kristina Klein, Lora Grigorieva, Anton Bochkarev, Maxim Lisin, Igor Podoplelov, and Aik Tigranian. The Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra and Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir are conducted by Fedor Beznosikov.
Mkhitaryan is set to perform at the Metropolitan Opera this season, as well as at the Wiener Staatsoper and Bergen National Opera. She will also sing at Moscow’s Zaryadye Hall, which famously supported the invasion of Ukraine and called for the “denazification of Ukraine.”
The livestream comes one month before the soprano’s upcoming Met performances and as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine intensify. Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, has already stated that cultural exchange with a country trying to kill people is wrong and stated, “it would be a big mistake to even try to divorce art from politics.”
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