The Alisher Navoi Theatre Tour: a symbol of friendship and cultural cooperation
The Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre will perform on tour at the Astana Opera. On November 22, the famous Uzbek collective will present to the capital’s audience a large-scale Gala Concert featuring opera and ballet numbers, the press service of Astana Opera reports.
The artists of the Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre have previously performed in Kazakhstan several times. Thus, the company participated in the wonderful project Days of Culture of Uzbekistan in Kazakhstan as an honorary artistic guest and some outstanding soloists gave successful tour performances at the leading stage venues of Astana, Almaty and other cities of Kazakhstan. The Navoi Bolshoi Theatre Maestro Aida Abdullaeva conducted the performance of Verdi’s Aida in Astana, which was warmly received by the audience. In turn, creative teams from Kazakhstan regularly perform in Uzbekistan. In 2019, the Astana Opera’s tour at the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre was a great success. The Tashkent audience enthusiastically received the national opera Abai by Akhmet Zhubanov and Latif Khamidi as well as Puccini’s operatic masterpiece Madama Butterfly.
Our countries are connected by close creative and state relations that have developed over decades. The peoples of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are united by true friendship and good neighborliness. Many representatives of Kazakh ethnicity are indigenous and equal residents of Uzbekistan, along with many other peoples inhabiting our land. The solidarity is greatly influenced by the wise policies of the top leadership of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The tour of our opera house in Kazakhstan is of great importance in strengthening mutual creative ties and enriching the cultures of the two countries. The origins of national creative heritage both in our country and in Kazakhstan are closely connected with the classical achievements of world opera and ballet art, Abdulla Alimov, artistic director of the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, said.
From an organizational point of view, such a big tour is a large-scale international project where we are presenting a creative team of about 110 people. By tradition, it will include the best creative forces – People’s Artists, Honored Artists, as well as representatives of talented creative youth who have become laureates of many prestigious international competitions, including the “Competizione dell’Opera” recently held in Uzbekistan. The symphony orchestra of the Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre will also be presented, which will allow us to show the opera and ballet art of our country in a diverse and worthy manner, Abdulla Alimov added.
On this day, viewers will have the opportunity to get acquainted with original numbers from Uzbek opera and ballet works, as well as enjoy classical works presented at the Astana Opera. In particular, soloists of the Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre will perform Méphistophélès’ aria from Gounod’s opera Faust, numbers from Verdi’s operas Don Carlos, Un Ballo in Maschera, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, arias from Puccini’s La Bohème, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and many others.
The highlight of the tour program will be the art song Kashmirida by the Uzbek composer, People’s Artist of the USSR Mukhtar Ashrafi, as well as the overture and scene from the opera Maisara’s Escapades by the People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR, composer Suleiman Yudakov.
The ballet part of the program includes numbers from Minkus’ Don Quixote, La Bayadère, Pugni’s La Esmeralda, Adam’s Giselle and Le Corsaire, a pas de deux from Drigo’s Le Talisman, adagio from the ballet Schéhérazade to Rimsky-Korsakov’s music. A waltz from the ballet Chopiniana to Chopin’s music, variations and adagio from the ballet Carmen Suite to Bizet – Shchedrin’s music, the balcony scene from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet will be featured for the audience.
On this day, the Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra will perform under the baton of Maestro Denis Vlasenko.
I would like to emphasize the importance of further strengthening the cultural ties between our countries. All over the world, the life of opera houses is connected not only with intense scenic work, but also with other multifaceted creative relationships. This enriches the life of each opera house individually and influences the professional development of soloists, conductors, stage directors, choreographers and set designers. At the same time, we hope that friendship and creative collaboration between the Alisher Navoi Bolshoi Theatre and the Astana Opera will continue to strengthen, Abdulla Alimov concluded.
