The photo exhibition "The meaning of life is to desire, not to possess" will open on Nikitsky Boulevard

On July 1, 2025, a photo exhibition "The Meaning of Life is to Desire, not to Possess" will open on Nikitsky Boulevard, dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Semenovich Kozlovsky, an outstanding Soviet and Russian opera and chamber singer, soloist of the Bolshoi Theater and creator of the State Opera Ensemble.

The project was prepared by the Moscow Department of Culture and the Moscow Directorate of Mass Events based on unique photographic materials provided from the family archive by Ivan Semenovich Kozlovsky's granddaughter Anna Yurievna Kozlovskaya-Telnova.

Many photographs have never been published and will be presented to visitors of the exhibition for the first time, including a school photograph of Ivan Semenovich from 1909, a 1925 photograph from the opera Tannhauser, in which Ivan Kozlovsky played the role of Walter von Vogelwelde, and a photograph of a heartfelt conversation between Mark Osipovich Reisen and Ivan Semenovich Kozlovsky at the house on Bryusov Lane.

The name of the photo project "The meaning of life is to desire, not to possess" is a quote from Ivan Kozlovsky's life motto and reveals the artist's reverent and creative nature.

Ivan Kozlovsky was fond of music since childhood, sang in the church choir and immediately after graduating from high school he entered the Kiev Music and Drama Institute. At the age of 26, he became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and performed all the leading roles of the lyrical tenor, with a total of 23 operas in the singer's repertoire.

Kozlovsky was a completely unique and amazing figure in the cultural space of his time. Ivan Semenovich sang both popular songs and everyday romances. In Soviet vocal art, he was perhaps the main virtuoso singer of his time and the "king of high notes."

"What kind of person was the outstanding tenor of the 20th century Ivan Kozlovsky? How did he live and how? You can talk for a long time, or you can see a wonderful exhibition of photographs that reflect all periods of his life: from childhood to adulthood. All photos are accompanied by comments, and therefore the exhibition becomes more informative!" — Anna Yurievna Kozlovskaya-Telnova, granddaughter of Ivan Kozlovsky.

The open-air exhibition will feature unique photographs from the Kozlovsky family's home collection, provided by his granddaughter Anna Yurievna Kozlovskaya-Telnova. Archival photographs will open new pages of the singer's creative and family biography to visitors.

The photo exhibition will consist of several blocks that will introduce guests to the main milestones of Ivan Kozlovsky's life. Visitors will see photographs of the singer in the form of characters from the operas "Dubrovsky", "Boris Godunov", "Eugene Onegin", photographs with his family – singer brother, sister, wife, daughters, Anna and Anastasia, and granddaughter, photographs of Ivan Semenovich with friends, relatives and his famous comrades — opera singer Antonina Nejdanova, conductor Nikolai Golovanov, opera singer Nadezhda Obukhova, on vacation in the Crimea, where he loved to visit, and in the home interior on Bryusov Lane.

The photo exhibition "The meaning of life is to desire, not to possess" will be presented on Nikitsky Boulevard, opposite house 15, from July 1 to July 27, 2025.