Igor & The Red Elvises @ Chalfonte Theatre

The Platform at Chalfonte Theatre presents Igor & The Red Elvises on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The evening features two 60-minute sets with a 10-minute intermission. Doors open at 6:00 PM and music begins at 7:00 PM. The Chalfonte Theatre offers a 50% discount on all ticket categories for youth ages 18 and younger.

Igor & The Red Elvises are one of the most singular acts in American roots music — a band whose story begins in the Soviet Union, runs through a dream about Elvis Presley, and arrives somewhere between Siberian folk, surf rock, rockabilly, funk, and pure party. Since forming in California in 1995, the band has toured the world, appeared in major films and television series, and built a devoted cult following on the strength of their impossible-to-categorize sound and their live shows, which consistently turn any venue into a dance floor.

Founder and frontman Igor Yuzov was born in Germany, raised in Ukraine, and educated in Moscow — a background that shaped both his musical instincts and his determination. Growing up in the Soviet Union, where rock’n’roll was illegal, Yuzov sought out forbidden music and eventually formed the Russian folk-rock band Limpopo, which he brought to the United States after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The band was personally greeted by Ronald Reagan upon arrival, and in 1993, Limpopo won Ed McMahon’s Star Search. Two years later, following a dream in which Elvis Presley appeared and told him to start playing rock’n’roll, Yuzov transformed his ensemble into The Red Elvises and launched their career with street performances on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade — performances so popular that the City of Santa Monica eventually ordered them to stop.

The band has since released 14 studio albums, two live recordings, a concert DVD, and a greatest hits compilation, all independently produced. Their music has appeared in the cult film Six-String Samurai, the Fox series Melrose Place and Fastlane, Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, VH-1 Behind the Music, the Cartoon Network series Mike, Lu & Og, and the Mail Order Bride soundtrack. In 2005, they performed at Live 8’s Moscow benefit concert alongside the Pet Shop Boys.

“Your first concert will send you flying into the air, because you will want to dance.”

— Marla J. Selvidge, author of Igor and the Red Elvises

The band’s music has been described as rockabilly, surf rock, folk rock, funk, disco, and reggae — none of which fully captures it. Yuzov calls it “Siberian Surf Rock,” a label that hints at the humor, the groove, and the cross-cultural collision that defines every Red Elvises show. He draws on Russian poets and prose writers, Central European folk traditions, and sounds collected from decades of world touring, and delivers all of it with costumes as outrageous as the music demands. No matter the venue, the band brings the party with them.

The performance is presented as part of The Platform, a live performance series curated by the nonprofit Chalfonte Foundation, which brings nationally and internationally recognized artists to Elk Rapids in an intimate setting.