While forming part of the Opera Company, the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus is a creative entity in its own right and occupies a page of its own in Bolshoi history. In the 80’s of the 19th century, Ulrich Avranek was appointed Chief Chorus Master and second conductor of the Theatre’s orchestra. Under his leadership, the Chorus attained a very high performance level and became known throughout Russia. Many composers wrote music specially for it. In conductor Nikolai Golovanov’s memoirs, he recalls that: “the splendid chorus of the Moscow Imperial Opera… had a great success in the capital, all of Moscow attended its galas and concerts”. At the beginning of the last century, the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus took part in Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris. As the art of staging opera developed, the Chorus became an active participant in all the Theatre’s opera productions. First-class musicians, the Bolshoi Theatre conductors and chorus masters Nikolai Golovanov, Alexander Melik-Pashayev, Mikhail Shorin, Alexander Khazanov, Alexander Rybnov, Igor Agafonnikov and others developed the artistic traditions of choral singing and enhanced the beauty, power and expressiveness of its sound. During a Bolshoi Theatre Opera Company tour of France, a Paris newspaper remarked on the very high level of the Chorus’s performance skills: “that, the public should force the chorus to give an encore during the course of a performance has never been witnessed before at the Palais Garnier or, indeed, at any of the world’s opera-houses”.

Today, the Chorus has 150 members. There is no opera in the Bolshoi Theatre repertoire in which it does not take part, in addition to which there are chorus parts in the ballets Nutcracker and Spartacus. It has a vast concert repertoire, including works for chorus by Sergei Taneyev, Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sergei Prokofiev, .and religious music. Its performances abroad are always popular: in 2003, the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus showed itself to be in fine form during its tours, after a fairly long interval, of Spain and Portugal, under the leadership of Alexander Vedernikov. The press commented as follows: “…The Chorus is magnificent, musical with astonishingly powerful sound…”; “We draw your attention to the Bells cantata, a spectacular work, … which demonstrates the grandeur of Russian music: the chorus! We were presented with an example of superlative singing: intonation, voices, power, sound. We were lucky enough to hear a performance of this work which is little known here, a marvelous performance not only by the Chorus, but by the Orchestra too…” Since 2003, the Chorus has been led by Merited Artist of Russia Valery Borisov.

Internationally renowned conductor Tugan Sokhiev shares his time between symphony and opera, with orchestras from all over the world as well as with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (ONCT) and the prestigious Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, being the current Music Director of both institutions. 

As one of the last students of legendary teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Tugan Sokhiev is eager to share his expertise and thus has initiated a Conducting Academy in Toulouse. His interest in French-Russian relationships in classical music has resulted in him becoming Toulouse's Franco-Russian festival Artistic Director. The Bolshoi Orchestra often plays at this festival and at the Philharmonie de Paris under his baton.

As a guest conductor, Tugan Sokhiev regularly conducts the most prominent orchestras in the world: Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Finnish Radio Symphony orchestras and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, where he was appointed Principal Conductor between 2012 and 2017. 

Tugan Sokhiev has a rich and varied discography, including recordings on Naïve Classique, Warner Classics and Sony Classical. He is currently collaborating with EuroArts on a series of DVD's. His last recording of Shostakovitch 8th Symphony with ONCT received a Diapason d'Or in 2020. 

The 2021/22 season includes engagements with the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskappelle at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Munich, Berlin and New York Philharmonic orchestras.

Born in 1968 in Moscow, Fedor Stroganov studied at the Academic Music College of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (1988) before enrolling at the Conservatory's undergraduate course (finished at 1993) and postgraduate programme (1995). He studied composition under Konstantin Batashov and Albert Leman, and organ performance under Natalia Gureeva. He also trained with Michel Chapuis, Olivier Latry, Paul Méfano, and Gérard Grisey at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (1992–1993). 

Fedor Strogavnov has been a prize-winner of the Oleg Yanchenko International Organ Competition (Volgograd, 2002, 3rd Prize) and a diploma recipient of the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition (Kaliningrad, 2001) and Moscow Composers Competition in Best Organ Composition category (2002).

He started appearing in public when he was a student, performing organ works by baroque and romantic composers as well as his own creations. Fedor Stroganov has been the cantor of the Small Ascension Church on Bolshaya Nikitskaya street since 1998; a soloist with the Barokko ensemble (Yaroslavl) since 2008; and a trainer with the Moscow Conservatory since 2005 (Assistant Professor since 2015). 

The musician has collaborated with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Russian Philharmonia Orchestra; multiple chamber orchestras and ensembles including Musica Viva, Academy of Early Music, Hermitage, Kremlin, The Pocket Symphony, Excelente, Musica Poetica (Switzerland), Telemann Consort, as well as the Moscow Synodal Choir, Blagovest Moscow Choral Ensemble, etc. 

He has appeared with renowned musicians, such as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Vladimir Jurowski, Tugan Sokhiev, Alexander Rudin, Alexey Puzakov, Misha Rachlevsky, Tatiana Grindenko, Hibla Gerzmava, Nadezhda Pavlova, Yana Ivanilova, Olga Ivusheikova, Rustam Komachkov, Nazar Kozhukhar, Petr Glavatskikh, and Michel Tirabosco. The musician has been involved in theatre, musical, and literary projects with Alla Demidova, Tatiana Doronina, Dmitry Dyuzhev, and Ingeborga Dapkunaite. 

At the Berlin Film Festival (2019), he accompanied 11 silent films of 1929 on the cinema organ at the Babylon cinema. He has participated in several festivals, including Moscow Autumn, Musicarte, Haydn Festival at Esterházy Castle (Eisenstadt), Mozart Festival in Würzburg, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Sacro Art in Lokkum, Wired Strings in San Francisco, Sheremetev Seasons in Ostankino, Organ evenings in Kuskovo, and Organ+ in Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad region. 

Stroganov's discography includes recordings of organ works by Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, Vidor, Messiaen, Boëllmann; harpsichord concerts by Bach and Palschau; his own compositions and improvisations, as well as parts of harpsichord and prepared piano in contemporary works (Martynov, Schnittke). 

He is a member of the Russian Union of Composers and has been a soloist with Mosconcert since 2016.