"Alone as before, in the universe" is a literary and musical program created by the ensemble "Russia" in honour of the 200th anniversary of the great Russian poet M. Y. Lermontov. It immerses the viewer in the beautiful, complex and contradictory world of his works. It is difficult to find a definition of the stage genre in which the ensemble “Russia” presented to the audience the works of the great Russian poet. The performance combined music, acting and video.

In the first part of the program, scenes from Lermontov's poems "Mtsyri" and “Demon” are accompanied by folk music performed by the Lyudmila Zykina’s ensemble “Russia”. At the beginning, this combination seems unusual to the viewer, because we, as a rule, do not associate the poet with folk art. However, later we realise that the combination of Lermontov's poems and the sound of a folk instrument plunges us into thinking about Russia, its history and its future.

Folk music is replaced by academic music, and poems are replaced by drama. Scenes from the play "Masquerade" are played to the sounds of Aram Khachaturian's famous waltz. Lermontov’s work is performed by actors Andrey Solomonov (Satyricon theatre) and Sofia Torosyan (Your theatre).

In the second part of the programme, the soloists Nurlan Bekmukhambetov (tenor) and Irina Krutova (soprano) will perform romances on verses by Lermontov's “I’m going out alone on the road" "Lone white sail", "Prayer", "Without you, I want to tell you much”, "No, not you so ardently I love" and Sindal recitative from the opera "Demon" by Rubinstein. The performance will feature works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff performed by the winner of international competitions Sergey Sobolev (piano).