Bulat Minzhilkiev

Born Apr. 23, 1940. Soviet Kirghiz bass. People’s Artist of the USSR (1976).

Minzhilkiev studied at the opera studio of the Kirghiz Theater of Opera and Ballet. In 1966 he graduated from the Tashkent Conservatory, where he had studied voice with N. Kalinkova, and became a soloist at the Kirghiz Theater of Opera and Ballet. He had additional training from 1968 to 1971 at La Scala in Milan. His roles have included the title role in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, the Miller in Dargomyzhskii’s The Mermaid, Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust, and Basilio in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

Minzhilkiev received the Toktogul State Prize of the Kirghiz SSR in 1976. Minzhilkiev also received the Lenin Komsomol Prize in 1976 for his performance of the title role in the opera Boris Godunov and for his concert performances in the period 1973 to 1976.