Aleko

2022 / 2023           Marble Hall         the 10th Season

6 April * Thursday * 7.00 pm

 

 

Festival

A TRIBUTE TO RACHMANINOFF

(to the 150th anniversary of the composer)

 

 

Sergei Rachmaninoff

ALEKO

One-act opera

(Concert performance)

 

Running time: 1 hour

Management reserves the right to substitute performers and works performed

 

In the year of the 150th anniversary of the genius pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, “A Tribute to Rachmaninoff” Festival will feature a Vocalise for Viola and Orchestra performed by renowned soloist and chamber musician Dennis Krasnokutsky (USA), as well as a concert performance of the one-act opera Aleko with opera soloists, the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra and chorus.

The author of the project, conductor and artistic director of the festival: Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal Mukhitdin.

 

Dennis KRASNOKUTSKY is an internationally acclaimed soloist and chamber musician. He appeared in major concert halls including Mariinsky Theatre, Teatro El Círculo, Kravis Center, Kolarac Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, etc.

He has collaborated with Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Miami Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, New Jersey Capital Philharmonic, Baton Rouge Symphony, Bay Philharmonic and Bay Atlantic Symphony. He has worked with an array of artists including Hilary Hahn, Bella Hristova, Sarah Chang, Jonathan Biss, Frank Sinatra Jr., Bernadette Peters and many others.

He is a founding member of the Samuel Barber String Quartet and has toured as a member of the Rowan String Quartet. Since 2006, he has been a principal violist with the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra with whom he has toured North and South America and the Europe. He has recorded projects with Naxos, Connoisseur Society, Arabesque, New World Records, and New Ariel.

Dennis Krasnokutsky holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University where he was a student of Michael Tree (Guarneri String Quartet) and Paul Neubauer (Principal Viola, NYP). He plays the viola made by Sergio Peresson.

Aleko is a one-act opera based on Pushkin’s poem The Gypsies. The action takes place in a gypsy camp. The plot is based on a fateful love triangle: the beautiful gypsy girl Zemfira, Aleko, who has left the city because of his love for her, and a young gypsy, whom Zemfira has fallen in love with.

 

 

PERFORMED BY:

 

Aleko: Talgat GALEEV, Rassul ZHARMAGAMBETOV, laureate of the State Youth Prize “Daryn”, Vasiliy UPOROV

Zemfira: Galina CHEPLAKOVA, Aigul NIYAZOVA, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, Zhamilya JARKIMBAYEVA, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan

Young Gypsy: Medet CHOTABAYEV, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, Sayan ISIN, Narul TOIKENOV, Vladislav CHIZHOV

Old Gypsy: Shyngys RASYLKHAN, laureate of the State Youth Prize “Daryn”, Ilya MARKOV

Old Gypsy Woman: Tatyana VITSINSKAYA, Gulzhanat SAPAKOVA

 

 

THE ASTANA OPERA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS

Conductor and Music Director: Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal MUKHITDIN