Don Pasquale

THE PICCOLO THEATRE

Gaetano Donizetti

Don Pasquale

Drama buffa in 2 acts

Performed in Italian

(with Kazakh and Russian subtitles)

Libretto by G. Ruffini based on A. Anelli’s Ser Marcantonio

ARTISTIC AND PRODUCTION TEAM:

Music Director and Conductor: Abzal Mukhitdin, People’s Artist of Kazakhstan

Artistic Director of the Production: Ala Simonishvili

Scenographer and Costume Designer: Manana Gunia

Director: Yerenbak Toikenov

Chief Choirmaster: Yerzhan Dautov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan

Lighting Designer: Sergey Kulak

Project Technical Director: Viсtor Carare

Today, the Drama buffa Don Pasquale, characterized by inexhaustible wit, vivacity and soft lyricism, is among the twenty most popular Italian operas and is performed annually in more than 150 theatres in the world.

There are legends of the speed of writing Don Pasquale. Various sources state terms from 11 days to two to three weeks. Even for Donizetti, who created 74 operas in just 27 years, this is very fast. Certainly, the composer worked with exceptional inspiration.

The storyline, in the centre of which is an old man in love, was well known to the contemporaries of Donizetti due to many literary works, as well as theatrical performances (both classic comedies and opera buffa), which started to appear on theatre stages from the 16th century.

To dissuade the old man from getting married, friends arrange a fictitious marriage with a woman who turns from a modest “pupil of the monastery” into a vixen and drives her husband mad. This situation happens at all times.

There is everything in Don Pasquale: love, pretence, cruel hoax, witty antics, comic situations with changing of clothes, disillusion and revelation ... And most importantly this is a real musical masterpiece by Gaetano Donizetti!

In a word, the audience can expect a wonderful performance!

THE ASTANA OPERA SOLOISTS, ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND EXTRA