Performer: Sergei Aleksashkin

Rodion Shchedrin's opera mixes singing, choreography and storytelling to lend a potent sacred and mystic overlay to Nikolai Leskov's folk tale.

Mikhail Kazakov gives a compelling portrayal of the troubled Tsar Boris, as Gergiev and the Mariinsky provide a great showcase for one of the masterworks of Russian music.

The Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff celebrates its 10th anniversary this autumn, and as part of the celebrations the Mariinsky Opera, under its conductor Valery Gergiev, was invited back for a concert performance of Prokofiev’s comic opera, Betrothal in a Monastery.