Astana Opera to celebrate World Theatre Day online
The mandatory quarantine has changed the plans of almost all the venues in the world, but this does not mean that people have ceased to be interested in art. Statistics show that the number of views on the Internet of opera and ballet classics has increased by tenfolds.
Today, the Astana Opera’s permanent partners and friends – opera houses and concert halls where the Kazakh company gave opera and ballet performances also adhere to preventive quarantine measures, canceling or postponing all performances and concerts and organizing webcasts for viewers.
Thus, for example, on March 21, the Teatro Carlo Felice presented on its website streamingcarlofelice.com Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, which was performed by the Astana Opera Ballet Company on the Italian stage on January 11, 2019.
This year, the capital’s team celebrates its seventh professional holiday. Despite the very young by theatrical standards age, a lot has been done over the years. Numerous tours, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, including a world tour, the artists’ victories at international competitions, as well as productions made in collaboration with celebrated cultural figures made the Astana Opera brand recognizable and prestigious at the international arena.
The Astana Opera’s best performances were greatly appreciated by the audiences of the Carnegie Hall, Opéra National de Paris, Meridian Hall, Stadsschouwburg, De Doelen, Teatro Carlo Felice, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Royal Opera House Muscat, Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg Opera, Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, State Kremlin Palace, Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of Uzbekistan and many others.
Today, the Astana Opera’s repertoire features works by outstanding national composers – Mukan Tulebayev’s opera Birzhan – Sara, Akhmet Zhubanov and Latyf Khamidi’s Abai, Yevgeny Brusilovsky’s Kyz Zhibek, Gaziza Zhubanova’s ballet Karagoz. World classics are represented by about 30 productions of famous operas and ballets.
Great contribution to the formation of the repertoire is made by world-renowned artistic figures – the Principal Conductor Alan Buribayev and the Artistic Director of the Ballet Company Altynai Asylmuratova.
A particular pride for the entire Astana Opera team became the high award – the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of literature and art, received for the first time in 2018 for the production of Zhubanov and Khamidi’s opera Abai. A year later, the opera house has received the International Professional Music Award BraVo in the Concert/Theatre Venue of the Year category.
The Astana Opera’s productions are staged by famous foreign and national cultural figures such as Franco Zeffirelli, Yuri Grigorovich, Boris Eifman, Altynai Asylmuratova, Andris Liepa, Alan Buribayev, Giancarlo del Monaco, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Lorenzo Amato, Luca Ronconi, Davide Livermore, Raimondo Rebeck and others; with the participation of the outstanding set designer Ezio Frigerio and the Academy Award-winning costume designer Franca Squarciapino, as well as talented Kazakhstani designers Sofya Tasmagambetova, Pavel Dragunov, Arassel Dosmuratova.
The State Opera and Ballet Theatre «Astana Opera» is accessible for all social groups, including people with disabilities. A ‘barrier-free environment’ has been formed for them in the opera house: wide doorways, safe ramps, a special elevator and other necessary attributes that enable safe and comfortable viewing of opera and ballet performances and concerts.
Today, life in the opera house does not stop: the building is carefully treated and disinfected, awaiting meeting with classical art connoisseurs very soon.