Queen of the Bolshoi Svetlana Zakharova on her love affair with London

Svetlana Zakharova in Gabrielle Chanel

Svetlana Zakharova (Odette) and Denis Rodkin (Siegfried) in Swan Lake

Svetlana Zakharova as Odile in Swan Lake

Svetlana Zakharova as Aegina in Spartacus

By Mark Pullinger, 06 September 2019

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“A ballerina shouldn’t even consider dancing Swan Lake if she cannot dance 32 fouettés”

Stephen Johnson, 7th August

With fifty years passing since his death in 1975, what does Shostakovich’s music mean for us today? Stephen Johnson outlines six lessons from this multifaceted composer – who might just be playing with us...

Sofia Gubaidulina dies at age of 93

Bachtrack, 13th March

Born in Christopol in 1931, Gubaidulina’s intensely spiritual music marked her out as the most important Russian composer of the contemporary period.

A lonely profession? Hong Kong International Conducting Competition

Rudolph Tang, 5th June

Christoph Poppen, new jury co-chair of the Hong Kong International Conducting Competition, argues that the competition valuable because it allows young conductors to meet one another, in what is an otherwise lonely profession.

Historical garb: Early music in Latvia and the Baltics

Bachtrack, 4th June

With a penchant for Baroque music in historical livery, Collegium Musicum Riga are part of a small but distinctive Early music scene in Latvia, initiating collaborations with others across the Baltic states.

Ambassadors for chamber music: Quatuor Ébène

Charlotte Gardner, 2nd June

Ahead of the 2026 ARD International Music Competition, Quatuor Ébène’s Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure talk about the competition’s transformative effect on their career, performing Beethoven around the world, and advocating for chamber music.

Mongrel sensibilities: Early music in Italy

Lawrence Dunn, 28th May

Giulio Prandi, conductor of Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, and violinist and concertmaster Gabriele Pro talk about crossing borders, adopting shared sensibilities, and the challenges facing historically informed musicians in Italy today.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Dancing Queen: the Bolshoi’s Svetlana Zakharova on her love affair with London