Cast & Characters

The Cast

Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Princess Marina: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Dimitri: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Shuisky: Oleg Balashov
Rangoni: Evgeny Nikitin
Boris Godunov: René Pape
Pimen: Mikhail Petrenko
Varlaam: Vladimir Ognovenko

The Characters

Boris Godunov (bass) - Tsar of Russia. He came to the throne by killing the young son of Ivan the Terrible; however, he feels uneasy and guilty about his success.

Xenia (soprano) - Boris’s lovely young daughter.

Fyodor (mezzo-soprano) - Boris’s young son, heir to his father’s throne.

Nurse (contralto) - Takes care of Fyodor and Xenia, the royal children.

Prince Vassili Shuysky (Tenor) - A wily Prince. He is one of the Tsar’s most powerful advisors—but the Tsar does not trust him.

Grigori (tenor) - A fugitive monk who poses as Dmitry, the murdered Tsarevitch (Tsar’s son).

Simpleton (tenor) - A holy fool, allowed by Russian custom to speak his mind without fear of retribution.

Andrei Shchelkalov (baritone) - Clerk of the boyar’s council.

Pimen (bass) - An old monk. He witnessed the murder of Tsarevitch Dmitry.

Marina Mniszek (soprano) - An ambitious Polish princess who hopes to win the throne of Russia by marrying the false Dmitry.

Rangoni (bass) - A jesuit aquaintance of Marina Mniszek.

Varlam (bass) - Wandering monk.

Missail (tenor) - Wandering monk.

Innkeeper (soprano) - The keeper of a country inn near the Lithuanian border.

Krushchyov (tenor) - A boyar.

Lavitsky (bass) - Jesuit

Chernikovsky (bass) - Jesuit.