Kazakh and Russian artists to celebrate Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s 180th anniversary
Astana Opera, together with the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Kazakhstan, the Russian Performing Art Foundation, with the support of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Kazakhstan, will present the international project «Tchaikovsky. Online», which will feature works by the great composer performed by famous Kazakh and Russian musicians.
Among them are: the Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, well-known operatic baritone Azamat Zheltyrguzov, Astana Opera’s Chief Concertmaster for Opera, Madeniyet Kairatkeri, pianist Yelena Sakhno, the Honoured Art Worker of Russia, Rector at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Mupic Pedagogical Institute Professor Valery Vorona, one of the world’s most brilliant violinists, conductor, two-time Grammy Award winner Maxim Vengerov, the People’s Artist of Russia, pianist, Professor Vladimir Ovchinnikov, the Honoured Artist of Russia, cellist Boris Andrianov, the Astana Opera’s press service reports.
«This year, the entire global cultural community celebrates the composer’s 180th anniversary. My wonderful colleagues and I did our part. In this concert, I will perform ten art songs from different periods of Tchaikovsky’s creative work. They were selected to be a good match in character and content. Beloved by everyone art songs «Rastvoril Ya Okno», «To Bylo Ranneyu Vesnoi», «Blagoslovlyayu Vas, Lesa», «Nam Zvezdy Krotkiye Siyali» and many others will be presented to the viewers. Tchaikovsky has written more than a hundred art songs, there are about 40 of them in my repertoire, but in the future I would like to perform all of them. It should be noted that the there are only a handful of singers who performed all his art songs. I watched a documentary film dedicated to Tchaikovsky recently and found out that every three minutes his music is performed somewhere in the world, as well as the music of Mozart. Almost every classical concert at Astana Opera features his art songs or arias from Tchaikovsky’s operas,» Azamat Zheltyrguzov said.
It is important to note that in addition to concert programs, Tchaikovsky’s legendary opera Eugene Onegin was added to the opera house’s repertoire in 2019, and also a number of popular ballets represents the great composer’s cultural legacy at the capital’s opera house.
In addition to art songs, in quarantine, musicians will present Tchaikovsky’s brilliant instrumental works. All of them wished the humankind patience, love, harmony, peace and an unwavering love for art.
«First of all, I would like to say words of gratitude to the management of the celebrated Astana Opera. We have developed strong friendly relations with the opera house <…> The cultural ties between our countries have a longstanding, solid and very successful foundation. Together, let us make it so that they actively develop further, despite any difficulties,» Alexey Borodavkin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Kazakhstan, said.
Mr. Ambassador also noted that today we see how writers, poets, artists, musicians of Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries are actively directing their talent to fight a common enemy: the pandemic. The project «Tchaikovsky. Online» is an excellent testament to this. «I am happy that the initiative of the Embassy of Russia and the Representative Office of Rossotrudnichestvo to celebrate the 180th anniversary of the great Russian composer in Kazakhstan was supported by the best creative forces of our countries,» Alexey Borodavkin concluded.
The concert «Tchaikovsky. Online» will be available for viewing in Kazakhstan on May 7 at 20:00 on the Astana Opera’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsqJvL1NJ5PFbe5zu4inaPg.
