Meet the Cast of the 2025 Spasskaya Tower Festival with the Stars of Bolshoi Theater Joining the Ranks

Agunda Kulaeva and Alexey Tatarintsev, the iconic opera duo, will be joining the 2025 Spasskaya Tower International Military Tattoo, unfolding on Moscow’s Red Square between August 22 and 31. The seventeenth run of the Festival will welcome the distinguished stars of the Bolshoi Theater on August 28 and 30 night shows. They will also become part of the Festival’s grand finale on August 31 performing the world-renowned ‘Katuysha’ song by Matvey Blanter, and Alexandra Pakhmutova’s ‘Staryi Klion’ (Old Maple).

Not only Agunda Kulaeva and Alexey Tatarintsev form a brilliant creative duo, but they are also a married couple. Together, they often perform at the most prestigious concert venues and prominent music festivals at home and abroad. Their repertoire encompasses both classical opera arias and popular compositions, with war-year songs receiving particular attention. In 2023, at the concert celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Lugansk the couple performed the famous Smuglyanka song.

Honoured Artist of Russia and North Ossetia, Agunda Kulaeva is a prominent mezzo-soprano. In 2005, she debuted at the Bolshoi Theatre as Sonya (War and Peace), since 2014 she has been a soloist with the opera troupe of the Bolshoi Theatre, brilliantly taking on over fifteen roles. Marina Mnishek from Mussorgsky Boris Godunov, Princess Eboli from Verdi’s Don Carlo, the Snow Queen from Banevich’s Story of Kai and Gerda, Polina from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades are just a few to mention. As a guest soloist, Agunda Kulaeva performs at Moscow Theatre ‘Novaya Opera’, the State Opera of Tatarstan, and Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater. She has already starred at Deutsche Opera in Berlin, the National Opera Amsterdam, the Sofia National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Israeli Opera, the Nikikai Opera Theatre (Tokyo) and others. Toured in Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Hungary, South Korea.

Honoured Artist of North Ossetia, Alexey Tatarintsev is a tenor. In 2008, he joined the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre, later started performing as a guest soloist onstage of the Bolshoi Theater and State Opera of Tatarstan. He also worked closely with the male choir of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery. During the Days of Russian Culture in Latin American, Tatarintsev wowed the audiences in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Asuncion, and Havana. In October 2012, he performed in some of the US most prestigious halls, featuring the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center (Washington), Carnegie Hall (New York), Chicago Philharmonic (Chicago), and Royal Hall (Los Angeles). Tatarintsev can be easily spotted among the participants of diverse international music festivals carried out in Germany, France, Finland, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, and the Netherlands. In 2016, Tatarintsev won the ‘Golden Mask’ national theatre award in the Best Male Opera Part category for Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet. He was also awarded the ‘Onegin’ prize as the best Master of Stage.

Working together for a number of years, Agunda Kulaeva and Alexey Tatarintsev have created numerous outstanding concert programs. In 2025, on stage of the Yaroslavl Philharmonic together with the Governor’s Symphonic Orchestra the celebrity couple presented their brand new ‘From Heart to Heart’ program focusing on the renowned pieces by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Verdi, Saint-Saëns and Donizetti, as well as popular songs by Russian authors.

In 2025, the Spasskaya Tower Festival overwhelming production will bring together over 1,500 of the world’s finest performers, with Russia being represented by the country’s best artists from the Ministry of Defense, National Guard Forces, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Emergencies Ministry as well as Federal Security and Federal Guard Services.

The Seventeenth Spasskaya Tower Military Tattoo is enjoying the unwavering organizational and/or financial support of the Russian MoD, MFA, Ministry of Culture, and Moscow Government Department of Culture.