In the near future, Astana Opera will have to work without the audience. According to the decision of the chief state sanitary doctor of the Nur-Sultan city, the team was transferred to the remote format, 80% to 20% Delovoy Kazakhstan reports.
“We already have experience of working this way, all employees are optimistic. A plan of measures aimed at the most efficient organization of the work of the opera house staff has been developed and is being implemented. We took into account all the nuances, keeping in mind the need to maintain a high professional level of artists and musicians. The work of the opera house will not stop, but will switch to new safe conditions,” Galym Akhmedyarov, Astana Opera’s general director, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, says.
“Our team is fully vaccinated. Those who need a booster shot will receive it on time. We understand that the soonest stabilization of the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the capital and the country as a whole depends on the observance of all the recommendations of medical specialists. Thus, we take these safety measures seriously. Health is above all,” the general director concluded.
Thus, 80% of the administrative staff of the opera house has been transferred to a remote work mode, and the creative teams’ rehearsals are held according to a special schedule in small groups in compliance with all the safety regulations.
Along with individual remote work sessions, each creative team has its own schedule, thanks to which they will not overlap with each other. For example, the choir consists of 70 people, so it will be divided into two groups of 35 people, who, like the ballet company and the orchestra, will practice at different times, in different rehearsal rooms for 3 hours a day. Opera soloists will practice separately, according to an individual schedule.
To date, all the opera house’s artists are working on the productions included in the repertoire plan for February, and are also learning new parts, preparing for the upcoming premieres and waiting to meet with the audience as soon as the epidemiological situation in the city allows for it.
It is especially worth emphasizing that the opera house has the required number of medical thermometers for measuring temperature and hand sanitizers, and that the necessary surface treatment and UV sterilization of the premises are being carried out.
