Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (Müpa, 2016)

In the summer of 2013, two stars of the opera world, Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, sang a selection of arias and duets before an audience of 7,500 on Moscow’s Red Square. Born in 1962, the athletic baritone star’s favoured outfit is a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and even on stage he is a great believer in the unaffected approach. Recognisable for both his velvety voice and characteristic shock of silver hair, Hvorostovsky once featured among People magazine’s 50 most beautiful people. He gained international fame in 1989 when he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, triumphing over Bryn Terfel, and today is sought after for leading roles in Russian opera the world over. The New York Times has described him as born to play the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, but he has also achieved spectacular success in the part of the elder Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. A regular guest performer at the New York Metropolitan, Berlin State Opera, London’s Covent