Launched from Baikonur to stardom: the opera singer reaching Europe's biggest stages

The largest Soviet cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Baikonur saw many people launched towards the stars, among them Yury Gagarin, the first man who flew to space. But the launch of a young girl from Baikonur, Aigerim Altynbek, may prove just as extraordinary. She was launched not towards the stars, but towards stardom.

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Last year Aigerim Altynbek, an aspiring opera singer, aged 28, won the prestigious CLIP competition in Italy, receiving four awards. The young artist from Kazakhstan not only won first prize, but also took home the audience award, the best female voice award, and a special music critic's prize.

Equally important is that she secured a contract with the famous Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, the first Kazakh singer to step onto the famous stage.

“I have been singing since I was five years old, and performing at La Scala was something I had never even imagined in my dreams. For me, the feeling of entering La Scala Theatre for the very first time was truly special, because a little girl named Aigerim saw her dream come true. I felt that it was the result of all the hard work I had put in throughout my life up to that point. I cannot even begin to describe the emotions I felt at that moment.

“The feelings I experienced while performing on stage are also very difficult to put into words, because while standing there, I was not thinking only about myself. It felt as though the dream of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh people had come true,” says Aigerim Altyinbek for Euronews.

Her story captures the attention of the people in Kazakhstan and beyond because it is one of those “star is born” stories. Aigerim was born in the small village of Akay in the central Kazakhstan Kyzylorda Region. Her mother was her first teacher. She then spent four years studying at her first music school in Baikonur, a place where people used to reach for the stars. It was in college that her teacher, Firuza Argynbaeva, first recognised her as an opera singer. She accompanied her to her first international competition in St. Petersburg, where she won a prize at the age of 16. To this day, Aigerim remains the only winner from Kazakhstan in this competition.

Since then, she has participated in dozens of competitions: in Russia, Europe and Kazakhstan. Aigerim has won first place at an opera competition in Italy commemorating the 100th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini's birth, third place at the Nikolai Ghiaurov International Opera Competition in Modena, and a special prize at the Mirella Freni Competition. And these are just a few recent competitions from 2025. The crown jewel was the mentioned CLIP contest. It is an annual event in Italy where hundreds of contestants are tested through three rounds of opera singing. They are required to perform arias in Italian, French, Spanish and English languages. Aigerim had been preparing for it for six months, several hours a day.

But hard work is something she takes as normal. Especially in Europe, where, Aigerim says, the audience is unforgiving as opera connoisseurs not only know every libretto by heart but also the history of the opera, its previous performers and its author.

“You must always stay in top form. You must always be prepared and must always feel the energy of the stage. You must always keep learning and improving,” says Aigerim.

For her, learning European culture and history through opera is a thrill but she never stops thinking about her homeland and wants to promote Kazakh culture in Europe as well.

“Naturally, I would like to perform in Kazakhstan, but now that I have contracts with La Scala Academy and La Scala Theatre, I can no longer simply leave and perform elsewhere as I used to. Whenever I perform at concerts, I never forget my homeland, Kazakhstan. When creating a concert programme, I always try to include at least one Kazakh folk song, because people should hear our Kazakh language and experience our culture,” says Aigerim.

Success also brings the burden of responsibility. As it happens in other unsuspecting sources of talent around the world, when people see one of their kin is a star, they expect ambassadorial engagement. What makes burden easier to carry is the support of her country.

“For many people, seeing a Kazakh girl perform on a European stage is something truly remarkable. They often tell me that they have great expectations for me in the future. Of course, there will be many major concerts ahead. The fact that the leaders of our country, and our President personally, support me gives me tremendous inspiration. After the CLIP Competition, he personally congratulated me and wrote me a letter. I was deeply touched because I never expected it.

“I am endlessly grateful to the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan and to Minister Aida Balayeva for giving me the opportunity to perform on stage alongside such distinguished people. Because of the trust she placed in me and the kind words she expressed to me, saying, ‘Aigerim, I believe you will perform with honour at that concert. I believe in you,’ those inspiring words gave me confidence, and thanks to them I was able to prove myself at that concert.”

Aigerim says that she does not think much about the strain and responsibility. Opera is something that inspires her and awakens her spirit.

“The stage is my life. On stage, I feel like a bird spreading its wings wide. The stage is my home, my life.”

She says that away from the spotlight, she sees herself very differently.

“Since my entire life has been connected to music, in everyday life I am simply a daughter beside my parents, a friend among friends, and a student beside my teachers. But on stage, as someone who shares music with people, I try to give the audience the music that lives in my heart. When I step onto the stage, I forget everything else. I see only the audience. My only wish is to give them emotion, to touch their hearts, and to immerse them in the world of music. Everything I present on stage comes from my soul.”