Abai
2022 / 2023 Main Hall the 10th Season
30 April * Sunday * 5:00 pm
1 May * Monday * 6:00 pm
Akhmet Zhubanov, Latif Khamidi.
Abai
Opera in 4 acts
Performed in Kazakh
(with Russian and English subtitles)
Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes (including one interval)
Please note that the age limit is 10+.
Management reserves the right to substitute performers and works performed
Libretto by Mukhtar Auezov
The premiere at the Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre: 24 December 1944
The premiere at the Astana Opera House: 25 September 2015
PRODUCTION GROUP
Music Director and Conductor: Alan Buribayev, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, Laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Director: Giancarlo del Monaco
Consultant Director: Yesmukhan Obayev, People’s Artist of Kazakhstan
Set Designer: Ezio Frigerio
Costume Designer: Franca Squarciapino
Choirmaster: Yerzhan Dautov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Projection Designer: Sergio Metalli
Lighting Designer: Vinicio Cheli
Choreographers: Тursynbek Nurkaliyev, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan / Galiya Buribayeva, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Opera Company Director: Azamat Zheltyrguzov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Assistant Conductor: Ruslan Baimurzin
Assistant Director: Yerenbak Toikenov
Assistant Costume Designer: Arassel Dosmuratova
* * * * *
The opera Abai by Akhmet Zhubanov and Latif Khamidi, a masterpiece of national classics, will be performed in a new version by the conductor Alan Buribayev and the opera director Giancarlo del Monaco. The high order of intelligence and cultural level, as well as the subtle sense of musical material are the distinctive features of the score-reading of Music Director of the production - Principal Conductor of the Astana Opera House, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Alan Buribayev. Under his direction the Orchestra sounds fantastic!
The wonderful creative duo of the renowned stage designer of our time Ezio Frigerio and the costume designer, Academy Award winner Franca Squarciapino delights the audience with the originality of scenic solutions. Thus, Abai’s study clearly reveals the poet’s multi-faceted world: there is a library shining with gilded covers of books, a globe, an armillary sphere and busts of great philosophers ... And the doors of the study open directly into the huge world!
The final scene and 3D technologies used in it, hit the mark, causing a storm of emotions and a powerful patriotic uplift.
ROLES AND PERFORMERS
Abai – Zhanat SHYBYKBAYEV, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan / Talgat MUSSABAYEV, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Aidar – Ramzat BALAKISHIYEV / Meir BAINESH, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Azhar – Zhannat BAKTAY, Honoured Artist of Kazakhstan / Saltanat AKHMETOVA, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Azim – Beimbet TANARYKOV
Zhirenshe – Talgat GALEYEV / Altynbek ABILDA, laureate of the State Youth Prize “Daryn”
Karlygash – Tatyana VITSINSKAYA / Saltanat MURATBEKOVA
Kokbai – Dinmukhamed KOSHKINBAYEV / Yerzhan SAIPOV
Syrttan – Bolat YESSIMKHANOV / Shyngys RASYLKHAN
Narymbet – Yerulan KAMEL / Arthur GABDIYEV
Mes – Khaidar MUSTAPIN / Nurlybek KOSPARMAKOV
OPERA SOLOISTS, ORCHESTRA, CHORUS, BALLET AND EXTRAS OF THE ASTANA OPERA HOUSE
Please note: there are animals (horse) in the performance
In 2018, the State Opera and Ballet Theatre “Astana Opera” was awarded the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Literature and Art for the production of A. Zhubanov and L. Khamidi’s opera Abai.
Tickets purchased at the Astana Opera are exchangeable and refundable only in cases of cancelled or postponed performances. In all other cases, no refunds and exchanges are possible.
