Bass Mikhail Kazakov, People's Artist of Tatarstan, is a soloist of the Russian Bolshoi Theater since 2001. In 2000 he won the Deixiene Grand-Prix at the 43rd international vocal contest in Toulouse (France). In 2001 he took the second place at the 25th Maria Callas vocal contest in Athens and became laureate of the Irina Arkhipova foundation. In 2002 Mikhail Kazakov won the gold medal and the first prize at the 12th Tchaikovsky international contest. Moreover, the singer took the first prize at the 2nd Chinese international vocal contest in Beijing.
Mikhail Kazakov toured Cyprus, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, Switzerland, Korea and Japan.
The annual festival has been held in the Chuvash State Opera and Ballet Theater since 1991. In 1993 when the 100th anniversary of the great Russian opera singer Maxim Mikhailov was celebrated the festival was granted international status. The festival is gradually developing and acquiring more variety. Since 2000 its program includes operas, concerts, and performances of regional Russian theaters.
