In the winter of 2017, Mikhail Rabinovich, the principal director of the Bashkir State Academic Russian Drama Theatre in Ufa together with the theatre’s manager Elena Kodayanidi reached out to Alexei Kortnev and me with an idea that we at first thought to be unrealistic. They wanted us to write a rock opera based on Akbuzat, the Bashkir national epic. However, this project was so huge and inspiring and the challenge was so serious that the excitement too over the reason. We started with preparations: Alexei was researching Bashkir legends and even the language, whereas I was studying the Bashkir folk music, songs and musical instruments. This work took more than half a year, and finally, the premiere took place on the stage of the Bashkir State Academic Russian Drama Theatre in 2018.