Kazakh ballet wins over Valencia

ASTANA. KAZINFORM In one of the largest cities in Spain, Valencia, there are no more tickets available to Swan Lake performed by the Astana Opera Ballet Company. The Spanish audience has caused a stir around the performances of the Kazakh company. Despite the fact that the dancers presented their work here for the first time, they are being recognized on the streets. The Astana Opera's name evokes an excited reaction, because the Spanish people know about the Kazakh opera house from the online broadcasts and world culture news, which often mention the company's successes, the press service of the theatre informs. 

More than a hundred dancers, along with make-up artists, wardrobe supervisors and stage machinists have arrived on tour in Spain. The company came to Valencia on the invitation of the world-famous opera singer Placido Domingo. Magnificent sets for P. Tchaikovsky's ballet adorned the stage of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (Valencia). The opera house is new, it was opened in 2005. The auditorium, which seats 1,400 people, was quickly filled with viewers eager to see this classical ballet masterpiece.

Swan Lake was first staged almost a hundred and fifty years ago. Since then, the love story of the enchanted Swan Queen Odette and Prince Siegfried has attracted theatregoers' attention, first of all, with its stunning music, as well as spectacular crowd scenes and technically brilliant solo parts. The story of a girl turned into a bird by the force of an evil spell is quite common in fairy-tale folklore. In Tchaikovsky's ballet, Prince Siegfried becomes Odette's savior, but his betrayal, predetermined by fate, turns into an unavoidable tragic guilt.

On December 29, the leading roles in the ballet were performed by: Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Aigerim Beketayeva (Odette-Odile), as well as international competitions laureates Olzhas Tarlanov (Prince Siegfried), Serik Nakyspekov (Joker) and Zhanibek Imankulov (von Rothbart).
The audience gave the Kazakh dancers a standing ovation, and unrelenting shouts of ‘Bravo!' did not stop until the soloists left the stage.
"From the very first moments until the end of the performance, the dancers demonstrated virtuosity and tremendous talent, and the scenery and every detail of the props were impressive in their beauty," said Ophelia Perez.

    The tour performances of the ballet Swan Lake will be taking place at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia from December 29 to January 5, 2019 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan as part of the "Rukhani Zhangyru" program. After that this ballet masterpiece will be presented in Italy from January 11 to 13.

The Artistic Director of the Astana Opera Ballet Company - People's Artist of Russia Altynai Asylmuratova. Conductors - Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal Mukhitdinov and Arman Urazgaliyev.

While sunny Spain enjoys Tchaikovsky's ballet, in the meantime, shortly before the New Year's holiday, opera soloists have also performed to a full house in the festive Astana. In the evening of December 29, the capital's audience went to see the first of the three concerts Astana Opera Congratulates. The initiator and author of the program - Honored Worker of Kazakhstan maestro Alan Buribayev brilliantly conducted the performance.

The audience had a unique opportunity to see the Principal Soloists in a new light. For the first time, opera stars Medet Chotabayev, Zhannat Baktai, Talgat Mussabayev, Zhanat Shybykbayev, Bibigul Zhanuzak and many others performed arias and scenes from operettas. Terzetto Mein Herr, was dächten Sie von mir... from J. Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus, septet from F. Lehár's operetta Die Lustige Witwe, Papageno and Papagena's duet from W.A. Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte and much more was presented to the audience.