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The celebrated Astana Opera Choir under the direction of the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Dautov will perform in Białystok, and will also give a big recital of Kazakh composers’ music in Warsaw, Astana Opera’s press office reports.
Choral art connoisseurs always look forward to the performances of the Astana Opera Choir. Furthermore, world-renowned stage directors and conductors generously give the highest commendations to the team, valuing highly their professionalism and vocal skills. "Extraordinary choir", "powerful choir", "brilliant choirmaster" - such epithets are regularly addressed to the choir of the capital’s opera house. The Kazakh choir collective is also very much loved in China, where the team received a gold medal at the 11th China International Choir Festival.
The Polish audience did not become an exception. They are also well acquainted with the work of the capital’s team, which twice became the winner of the prestigious music competition held as part of the Hajnówka International Festival in the city of Białystok in the Professional Choir category. The artists of the Astana Opera Choir performed at this festival for the first time in 2006, receiving the Grand Prix. In 2011, this time having arrived in Poland already by the organizers’ invitation, the team was again among the winners, taking first place. This year, the capital’s team was again invited to take part in the prestigious Hajnówka International Festival.
Speaking without false modesty, the organizers of the festival and its audience noted the high level of a cappella performance of music written by European composers. We performed rather complex works by Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff", - says Astana Opera’s principal choirmaster Yerzhan Dautov.
The Hajnówka International Festival in the Polish city of Białystok has been held annually since 1982. During this time, 944 choirs from 44 countries in Europe, Asia, North America, Australia and Africa performed there. The main principle of the festival was the promotion of cultural diversity, as well as respect and tolerance of representatives of East and West. The Hajnówka Festival, held under the patronage of the President of Poland and the Polish Composers Union, is on a par with such well-known cultural events as the Chopin Piano Competition and the "Warsaw Autumn" International Contemporary Music Festival.
The festival has very serious traditions. Well-known collectives performed there, and iconic musicians and composers, such as the famous Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, Igor Raevsky, Boris Tevlin, were represented on the jury," Yerzhan Dautov notes. "This year we are preparing a serious program for participation in the festival. The Astana Opera Choir will perform works by Modest Mussorgsky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski, and Anatoly Molodov. We plan to demonstrate not only the performance level, but also the command of a wide variety of styles, along with opera music. We want to show that our team is versatile and has no limits or restraints in our creative work. In addition, we will present our recital to European listeners, which will include the most beloved and recognizable Kazakh music works: Gaziza Zhubanova’s Zhalghyz Yemen, Yerkegali Rakhmadiyev’s Choral, Serikzhan Abdinurov’s Kui, Alibi Abdinurov’s Quyrmash, a medley of Kazakh songs and others."
It should be noted that the concert of Kazakh national music was initiated by the Polish side.
When we first arrived at the festival, we held a small local concert, where we performed only a few works by Kazakh composers, which were received very warmly and with great interest by the Polish audience," the choirmaster says. "Therefore, we consider the upcoming concert of the Astana Opera Choir in Warsaw as a way to introduce Europeans to the Kazakh national musical culture, an opportunity to demonstrate the level of vocal mastery that our country has reached."
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