Musakhanyants became the new director of the opera theatre in Nizhny Novgorod.

      January 4, 2026, 11:30 Culture and Leisure Eduard Musakhanyants replaced Ayrat Tukhvatullin as director of the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre. For now he will serve as acting director, the regional Ministry of Culture reported.

      Recall that in December news emerged about Tukhvatullin’s appointment as director of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. At the same time, until now he continued to head the theatre in Nizhny Novgorod. And at the end of 2025 it became known that theatrical producer, cultural manager and educator Eduard Musakhanyants had joined the Nizhny Novgorod opera. He took the post of deputy director.

      Since 2010 Musakhanyants’s professional activity has been connected with the Moscow music theatre Helikon-Opera. Since December 2015 he has held the post of deputy general director — artistic director for artistic and organizational work. During that period the theatre expanded its repertoire and began active development in media, educational and social spheres.

      Television is a separate direction in his work. Since 2012 he has collaborated with the TV channel Rossiya‑Kultura, where he produced more than ten major projects — concerts, competitions and special programs. All of them posted stable ratings and received wide audience response.

      In addition to his producing activities, Musakhanyants teaches. He is a master of the second-year class at GITIS’s producing faculty, combining instruction with practical work on theatrical, television and film projects.

      “I am confident that Eduard Musakhanyants’s professional experience — the combination of effective managerial practice, the ability to administer projects and a sensitive attitude toward people of the arts — makes him a significant and extremely important figure for the further development of the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre as one of the country’s most dynamically developing musical theatres,” emphasized the theatre’s artistic director Alexey Trifonov.

      Earlier it was reported that the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theatre received three nominations at the Onegin awards.

      NIA “Nizhny Novgorod” has a Telegram channel. Subscribe to stay up to date on major events, exclusive materials and timely information. Copyright © 1999–2025 NIA “Nizhny Novgorod.” When republishing, a hyperlink to NIA “Nizhny Novgorod” is required. This resource may contain 18+ material.