The Astana Opera Theater was built in a colorful antique style with baroque details and a national imprint of the culture of Kazakhstan, and famous architects from Russia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and Italy worked on its exterior.
Astana
The city of Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. Before the city was called Akmola. There are many variations in the occurrence of this name. One - the city of Akmola was named due to the elevation of white limestone. The second - the Hunnic people called the "pier" a large hillock or fortress. And the third version: Akmola has long been known as the main core of cattle fairs and is famous for its abundant variety of meat and dairy products (koumiss, ayran, kurt, shubat). Therefore, the name of the city is translated as “white holy place” or “white abundance”.
In 1930, the city of Akmola grew on the Kazakh plains at the site of the Akmola settlement. In 1960, in the month of December, the city totaled one hundred thousand people and turned into the Kazakh capital. In 1961, Akmolinsk was called Tselinograd, in 1992 it was renamed Akmola, and in 1998 in the month of May it was called the city of Astana.
A bit of history
The Opera and Ballet Theater "Astana Opera" was established by order of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. A. Nazarbayev. In 2010, in June, the first pile was scored. The construction was built with the whole world. The construction of the theater building was attended by masters of various nations: Russians, Kazakhs, Italians, Germans, Albanians, Bulgarians, Moroccans.
German professionals worked on the special equipment of the stage, and specialists from Italy were responsible for the acoustic range of audibility. The architect of the plan is Beget Packolly. At the Astana Opera Theater, a balance was reached between Greek, Roman and Kazakh nationwide customs, and they also applied Mannerism and Baroque styles. During the construction of the structure, the shortcomings made during the construction of theatrical buildings in other states were taken into account and the final construction schemes of the international level were used.
Theater Description
Astana opera in its beauty is not inferior to the leading European theaters. The theater was built in compliance with the classical trend interspersed with Kazakh national customs. The building is located on 9 hectares of land, and the perimeter of the theater itself is 64 thousand square meters. Theater scaffolds occupy 935 meters, the auditorium can accommodate 1250 theatergoers. The complex also contains auxiliary halls and rehearsal rooms, a chamber music chamber, and press rooms. Recently, a theater studio for children was opened in the theater.
The ceilings in the hall of the Astana Opera Theater reach 13 meters in height. The lobby is decorated with a bohemian crystal chandelier weighing 1,600 kg. Additional windows add side windows. On the sides of the foyer are marble staircases, decorated with paintings and having a baroque style. Charyn Canyon is painted on one wall , and Burabaya State Park on the other. Painted the walls of Italian painters.
The audience hall was built in the Italian style of the 19th century. The auditorium seats 1250 people. Around the ground floor there is a mezzanine, above are lodges, balconies in three tiers and a gallery. Armchairs for viewers of Italian production. The theater has an exceptional stage measuring 935 square meters. Such stages are only at the Mariinsky Theater and the Bastille Opera.
Scene
The Astana Opera Theater has a main stage of 935 square meters, a stage of sixteen meters high and a pair of pockets on the sides. At the back, the stage descends thirteen meters down to ensure the movement of the four main lifting machines and provides the potential for performances with a complex design.
Italian masters pored over the sound, as a result, there is not a single place in the hall where there is poor audibility. Sound is reflected literally from everything: beech and birch flooring, cherry and cherry with brass panels. Armchairs, mirrors and decorating stucco molding - everything that reflects or absorbs sound is conceived and made by skilled craftsmen. In addition, they took into account the tilt and swivel seats, as in the "La Scala" in Milan.
Description "Astana Opera" continues the orchestra pit, which seats about 120 people and consists of three tiers. The lower level (-1.1 m) is needed for musicians to enter, the upper ground floor is +1.5 m. The chamber hall is designed for 250 spectators, it is not badly equipped and its technical properties are not worse than the main hall. It has a special atmosphere that allows viewers to plunge into the magic of musical sounds. The ceilings of the hall are decorated with drawings by painters from Italy.
The theater complex has twenty-six equipped rehearsal rooms and about sixty dressing rooms. The floor and walls in the halls for rehearsals are made of birch, beech and cherry boards. Small holes in the wood absorb unnecessary sound, and leave the necessary in the hall. Also at the opera house they installed new studio special equipment and their own satellite lifting station.
Troupe
Until the end of 2014, the head of the theater team was the popular composer Tolegen Mukhamedzhanov. The creative troupe of the Astana Opera Theater was selected on a selective basis. At the competitions, the jury included delegates from major theaters in the world, such as La Scala, Paris Opera, San Carlo, Covent Garden, Mariinsky and the Bolshoi.
The backbone of the theater was actors with extensive experience in the profession. They set a goal - to improve the level of art of the opera house in Astana to the level of world theaters. Team members: Toleubek Alpiev - Director of the National Opera and Ballet Theater. K. Baiseitova, Abzal Mukhitdinov - conductor, Tursunbek Nurkaliev - chief choreographer, Yerzhan Dautov - chief choirmaster. For the theater troupe the work environment is fully organized.
Guide
In 2014, N. Nazarbayev changed the leadership of the Astana Opera Theater: he replaced T. Mukhamedzhanov with T. Alpiev. In 2015, in March, the prima ballerina from the Mariinsky Theater Altynay Asylmuratova was invited to the place of the artistic director of the ballet, and Alan Buribaev became the main conductor. In September 2016, by decree of the President of Kazakhstan, Akhmedyarov Galym Algievich was appointed director of the State Opera and Ballet Theater Astana Opera.
So:
- Director - Galym Akhmedyarov
- The ballet artist - Altynay Asylmuratova
- Chief Conductor — Alan Buribaev
- Chief Choirmaster - Yerzhan Dautov
Theater repertoire
On June 21, 2013, the theater triumphantly began the first theater season with the famous work of M. Tulebaev - the opera Birzhan-Sarah. The opera Birzhan-Sarah reveals a colorful embodiment of melodic and lyrical customs - aitys, which gives inimitability to a unique musical work, revealed in its complete inseparability and depth.
“Birzhan-Sarah” to this day, after 70 years after writing the work, is an example of the incessant poetic power that appeared in the combination of national and human cultural and literary skills. In the same year, the world opera of the Astana Opera Theater took place, presented to the world community by the work of Giuseppe Verdi “Attila”.
Ecumenical Premiere
The world show in the Astana Opera Theater of the production of J. Verdi's “Attila” was a triumph. The main conductor and musical director of the production was conductor Valery Gergiev. The director, costume designer, set designer was a master from Italy, Pierre Luigi Pizzi.
The emergence of the theater is an exciting period, since the theater is the main criterion for the power’s civilization and culture and gives confidence that the world crisis will not completely destroy art.
Outfits for the actors for the opera Attila were brought to Kazakhstan from Italy. Pierre Luigi Pizzi personally controlled every fitting of costumes. The main colors for the clothing of the Huns are purple, black, golden and snow-white.
Artists playing Attila
The main role was played by the Russian opera performer Ildar Abdrazakov. The actor met Pierre Luigi Pizzi a couple of years ago. His first experience as Attila was a few years ago in Peru.
The role of Ezio was performed by the Italian Claudio Sgura. It was very easy for him to contact with Kazakhstan people - with unpretentious and ordinary people.
It’s not easy in the new theater, there are errors, small oversights, but everyone understands that gradually everything will be at the highest level, and the Astana Opera will turn into a world-class theater.
The roles of Foresto and Odabella were performed by Anna Markarova and Luciano Ganchi.
The design for the attila production of Attila was brought from the Roman Opera House. To adapt the decoration to the size of the stage, the scenery was increased.
At the beginning of his career promotion, Pierre Luigi Pizzi staged magnificent performances with beautiful design. As soon as he was formed as an artist, he realized that it was important to focus on the work. Emphasize the importance of drama and nascent music.
The Huns in the opera were performed by the rank and file of the National Guard of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The soldiers have good discipline, and they do very accurately everything that is required of them. You can take soldiers with you to performances in many world theaters.
On the day of the show “Attila”, according to the theater’s schedule, at nineteen hours, the doors to the hall are closed and late spectators are not allowed. Visitors to the production come an hour before the start. At present, the theater does not need to wear a formal suit or evening gown, but such clothes will be very appropriate here. Behind the curtain after the production, the actors of the theater greet each other with the successful success of the world show of the Astana Opera Theater with the production of Attila.
Masterpieces of theatrical stages
At present, the stage of the Astana Opera Theater is decorated with the creations of classics of opera and ballet and the most modern operas of international-class professionals. In the first season of the theater, the ballet was directed by P. I. Tchaikovsky “Sleeping Beauty” in the performance of world-class ballet master Yu. Grigorovich, as well as S. Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” in the performance of the famous choreographer from France S. Zhud, including an ultramodern production of the popular Russian choreographer B. Eifman - "Roden".
In addition, in the first theatrical season, they performed productions of combined performances of domestic performers with European troupes, including the Roman Opera, La Scala, the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, the Mariinsky Theater, the Bordeaux Opera, and B. Eifman Ballet Theater.
How to get to the theater
You can easily find the Astana Opera and Ballet Theater. The Astana Opera address is simple, the theater is located in the main part of the city on Dinmukhamed Kunaev Street. Public transport goes here, you can get on a city bus by choosing route 32 or 46 to the Astana Opera stop or routes 21, 27, 28, 35, 42, 50 to the KazMunaiGas stop. By car, you can drive to the theater building on Turan Street, then turn to Saraishyk Street. The price of an entrance ticket is determined by the choice of a certain category of performance, pensioners and children are given discounts.
Astana Opera is the third largest world opera house. Italian, German, Swiss, Czech specialists took part in the construction of the theater. Built on the latest technical achievements, the theater construction allows you to realize on its stage performances of works of various levels of difficulty.