Aleksandrs Antoņenko (born in Riga June 26, 1975) is a Latvian tenor who specializes in dramatic repertoire.
 He debuted on stage as "Prince" in "Rusalka" in 2009.
 Since then, he has performed in cities such as Baden-Baden, Berlin, Monte Carlo, and Stockholm.
 Notable appearances include a 2012 appearance in Tosca, as Cavaradossi, at La Scala.
 In the same year he was seen as Otello at the Royal Opera House in London.
 In 2013 he appeared in the role of "Radames" in "Aida" at the Zurich Opera House.
 He followed that performance by appearing as Manrico in Il Trovatore at the Berlin State Opera.
 He has also performed in "Turandot" as Calaf at La Scala.
 In 2013, he appeared in the role of "Ismaele" in Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco", conducted by Nicola Luisotti at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan as well as the Splendid Palace in Latvia.
 In 2014 he announced that he will perform at The Orchestra Hall in "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci".
 He will also appear as the title role in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of "Otello", which will open the Met's 2015-2016 season.
 The production is notable within American opera circles due to the Met's decision to abandon their tradition of blackface for the role of Otello.
 Other future performances include "Norma" at the Bavarian State Opera, "Otello" at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and Zürich's Opernhaus, and "Pagliacci" at the Royal Opera House in London.
Prince Grigory Vasilyevich Kugushev (Russian: Григорий Васильевич Кугушев , 17 March 1824, – 3 October 1871) was a Russian writer, poet and playwright whose comedies (including "Goluboi Kapot", Blue Hood; "Pari", The Bet; "Priyomysh", Foster) had great (if not very lasting) success in the Russian Imperial Theatres in 1850s.
 More substantial and critically acclaimed were Kugushev's works of fiction, notably "Kornet Otletayev" (Корнет Отлетаев, a three-part novella, first published by "Russky Vestnik" in 1856) and the four-part novel "Postoronneye Vliyaniye" (Постороннее влияние, 1858—1859).
 He also wrote the libretto for the epic drama opera "Mazeppa" (1859) by Baron
Born in Oldenburg, Germany, Breiholz studied literature, theatre, musicology and art history at Free University of Berlin.
 In 1988 he did an internship at "Opera News" in New York City which led to an assignment as a freelance writer for the magazine.
 Until 2004, he worked for Opera News as a music critic, reporting mainly on the European opera scene.
 In 1996, Breiholz became a frequent contributor for "Opernwelt" magazine in Berlin.
 From 1997 until 2002 he worked as a writer and editor of the Arts section for the German daily newspaper "Die Welt".
 In 2002 he moved back to New York and worked as a correspondent for several European publications, reporting on opera, classical music concerts, and theatre.
 He has written articles for the British magazine "Opera Now", the German magazine "Rondo", "The Wall Street Journal Europe" and the Swiss magazine "Musik & Theater", among other publications.
 He has also worked as an interviewer for classical music radio programs.
 In 2005 he worked as a talent scout for a New York artists agency.
 He was Director of International Relations for the Latvian National Opera in Riga, Latvia, from 2006 until 2011 and also worked as dramaturg for the company.
 From August 2011 until March 2016 he was the Artistic Director of the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Belgium.
 Since April 2016 he is the Director of Artistic Administration and Casting at Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
Mazeppa, properly Mazepa (Russian: Мазепа ), is an opera in three acts (six scenes) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
 The libretto was written by Victor Burenin and is based on Pushkin's poem "Poltava".
Mariusz Kwiecień (] , born 4 November 1972) is a Polish operatic baritone who has sung leading roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America.
 He has received particular distinction in the title role of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" which he has sung at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Bilbao Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Warsaw Opera, Royal Opera House, London, and Seattle Opera where he won the company's 2006-2007 Artist of the Year award for this role, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Peter Barcza (born 23 June 1949) is a Canadian operatic baritone who has had an active international career since the early 1970s.
 After studies at the University of Toronto, he became a member of the Canadian Opera Company in 1971.
 The following year he won the Metropolitan Opera regional auditions.
 He has since appeared with major opera companies throughout the world, including La Monnaie, the New Orleans Opera, the New York City Opera, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Paris Opera, the Seattle Opera, and the Vancouver Opera among others.
 Barcza has appeared in recital and with symphony orchestras across Canada, including the Montreal Symphony, Quebec Symphony, Toronto Symphony and the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa).
Artyom Melikhov is a Russian tenor singer who was born in Saint Petersburg.
 He graduated from both the Glinka Choral School and Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he was under guidance from Yelizaveta Kudryavtseva till 2006.
 In 2008 under guidance from Valery Gergiev he played a role of one of the Japanese envoys in "Le Rossignol" opera and during the same year played a soloist role in "Chimes" at the Mariinsky Theatre.
 In 2009 he had his first appearance with Mariinsky Theatre where he played in an opera called "War and Peace".
 That year was followed by such 2010 debuts as the "The Mystery of the Apostle Paul" in which he sang in a role of "Nero" at the Mariinsky Theatre and another "War and Peace" performance, this time at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
 In 2011 he became the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers soloist and the same year performed the role of "Ovlur" in an opera called "Prince Igor" following by his appearance in "Dead Souls" and "Ariadne auf Naxos".
 In May 2013 he was "Rienzi" performer at the Saratov Opera under Alexei Stepanyuk's baton and the same year sang at the Carmina Burana opera after which he went on a tour to Naples where he performed at the Teatro di San Carlo.
Qiulin Zhang (or Qiu Lin Zhang) is an opera contralto of Chinese descent.
 Zhang was born in 1964 into a family of traditional Chinese Opera singers.
 Her father was a local opera singer of Qinqiang and play writer.
 Zhang is the winner of the Grand Prix of the International Contest of Marmande in 1995 and winner of the Masters of French Song in Paris the same year.
 She appears regularly in European opera houses such as the Toulouse Théâtre du Capitole, Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Dublin Opera, and others in London, Amsterdam, and Madrid.
 Known for her performances in Wagner's operas, in 2010, she sang Erda (one of her signature roles) in the Paris Opera's first performance of the complete Ring Cycle in 53 years.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; 25 April/7 May 1840 – 25 October/6 November 1893), often anglicized as Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, was a Russian composer of the romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire.
 He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States.
 Tchaikovsky was honored in 1884, by Emperor Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.
Lilian Sukis (born 29 June 1939, Kaunas) is a Canadian operatic soprano of Lithuanian birth.
 After earning diplomas from the University of Toronto and McMaster University, she made her professional opera debut in 1964 as Kate Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" with the Canadian Opera Company.
 In 1965 she sang the role of Countess Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" at the Stratford Festival.
 That same year she became a pupil at the Metropolitan Opera Studio and School.
 She made her debut at the Met in 1967 as Helen Niles in the world premiere of Marvin David Levy's "Mourning Becomes Electra".
 In 1969 she became a member of the Bavarian State Opera where she remained for more than 20 years.
 She has also appeared as a guest artist with several major opera houses and opera festivals internationally, including the Bayreuth Festival, the Frankfurt Opera, Graz, the Hamburg State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and the Vienna State Opera among others.

Question: In what year was the writer of the opera "Mazeppa" born?
Answer: 1840