Last Bell at the Astana Opera Academy

The final chord for the Astana Opera International Opera Academy will be the Grand Opera concert, which will be held on June 27 at the Kulyash Baiseitova Chamber Hall toward the end of the Astana Opera’s 10th anniversary season, Astana Opera press office reports.

“This year, the Astana Opera has a double celebration – we are not only successfully completing our 10th anniversary season, but the International Opera Academy will have its first graduation in the near future. I hope that the young talents who are graduating from the academy this year will delight Kazakh and foreign audiences with their art and that their names will be featured on the posters of the leading opera houses. In turn, I would like to congratulate the opera academy attendees on this significant date and wish them a good journey into a great creative life. There have been many accomplishments in your life over the two years of study, and let the list of achievements only grow from year to year,” Galym Akhmedyarov, the Astana Opera’s general director, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, said parting words to the graduates.

This evening, classical art aficionados will be offered vivid interpretations of arias, duets and scenes from opera performances by outstanding Kazakh and foreign and national authors. Aidar’s aria from the famous opera Abai by Akhmet Zhubanov and Latyf Khamidi – the beloved song Aittym Salem, Qalamqas by the great Abai and others will be performed. The program also features such popular compositions as: Nedda’s ballade from Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci, Marguerite’s aria from Gounod’s opera Faust, Mimi and Rodolfo’s arias and duet from Puccini’s opera La Bohème, Aida’s aria, the duet of Aida and Radamès from Verdi’s opera Aida, Levko’s aria from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera May Night, etc.

Arias and duets from the world opera repertoire will be performed by brilliant vocalists Nazym Sagintai, Ulpan Aubakirova, Sayan Issin, Talgat Allabirinov, Oraz Mukhamediyar, Nurkanat Tapiyev, Rassul Zharmagambetov, Valeriy Selivanov and others. Concertmasters – Zaru Zhazykbayeva, Dina Mirmanova, host of the evening – Aisulu Tani.

It should be noted that over the two years of training, young artists showed great results. They brought many victories to the academy, becoming laureates of prestigious competitions, attracted the attention of international agents, repeatedly performed at leading stage venues in the cities of Kazakhstan and far beyond the borders of the republic, and foreign opera houses are ready to offer contracts to some of them. All this proves the high level of skill of the performers, which they honed studying with leading Kazakh and foreign coaches within the walls of the academy. And very soon, the rising opera stars of our country will already become graduates, since on July 3 the ceremony of awarding certificates of completing the studies at the Astana Opera International Opera Academy will take place.