The building of the former Nizhny Novgorod People’s House has been home to Alexander Pushkin State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater since 1935. Now the theater is enjoying a real renaissance! In 2022, Dmitry Sinkovsky, a world-famous musician, Baroque music expert, a virtuoso violinist and countertenor, became chief conductor of the theater. The theater company boasts some of today’s finest operatic voices: Venera Gimadieva, Natalya Lyaskova, Sergei Kuzmin, to name but a few. You can also enjoy the ballet with young talents, the classics and the works of modern choreographers.

Connoisseurs from Moscow make a point of coming over to see the opening nights of Carmen and The Queen of Spades (the latter incidentally 'moved' from the Bolshoi to Nizhny Novgorod); with tickets easier available, it can be as gratifying to watch The Nutcracker staged in Nizhny during the New Year holidays.