The setting for Mikhail Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar is Russia and a Polish camp in 1613. Following the Russian revolution, the Communist regime renamed this intrinsically Russian opera after the main character, Ivan Susanin. The emphasis was then changed from the peasant"s life given to save the Tsar for the Russian people, to the idea of Susanin deliverin Russia when threatened with attack from the Polish enemy. The original title and libretto have now been restored. Russian bass, Evgeny Nesterenko magnificently sings the dramatic role of Ivan Susanin, the tragic hero who leads the Polish enemy on a false path in their search for the Tsar, thereby permitting the Tsar"s escape. With Marina Mescheriakova, Alexander Lomonosov and the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.