Kurmangaliev debuted in 1980 at the
Leningrad Philharmonia. He later performed in
Alfred Shnitke's Second Symphony and
Dr. Faust cantata during his career. His career reached his peak when he teamed up with director
Roman Viktyuk in the early 1990s, when he appeared in the
Russian language version of
David Hwang's
M. Butterfly. Kurmangaliev made his last appearance in film appearance in
Rustam Khamdamov's
Parallel Voices. At one time, Kurmangaliev acted under nickname
Erik Salim-Meruert, which are the combined names of his father and mother. ==Death==