The orchestra is stepping into the spotlight.
From October 7 to 11, Astana Ballet Theatre will host the Symphony Time festival on its own stage for the first time, with Astana Ballet Orchestra presenting three standalone symphonic programs featuring Erzhan Kulibaev, Alim Beisembayev and Amir Tebenikhin, DKNews.kz reports.
The festival program includes works by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Symphony Time moves onto the Astana Ballet stage for the first time
This year’s key distinction is not limited to the lineup of guest soloists. Symphony Time will be held directly on the stage of Astana Ballet Theatre for the first time.
The format also shifts the focus. Over three evenings, Astana Ballet Orchestra will appear not as part of a ballet production, but as the central performer in its own right.
For the theatre, the festival is a chance to present its symphonic direction separately. For audiences, it offers an opportunity to hear the orchestra in repertoire designed specifically for the concert stage.
Arman Urazgaliyev, Chief Conductor of the Astana Ballet Theatre Orchestra, described the festival as an important stage in the ensemble’s artistic development.
“For us, Symphony Time is an opportunity to show audiences the independent artistic nature of the Astana Ballet Theatre Symphony Orchestra. The special feature of this year’s festival is that, for the first time, it is being held on the stage of our theatre, and for us this is truly a large-scale and significant event. We are especially pleased that three remarkable performers — Erzhan Kulibaev, Alim Beisembayev and Amir Tebenikhin — are taking part in the festival. Each of them has a distinctive individuality and artistic language. For the orchestra, working with soloists of this caliber is always a creative dialogue that requires particular sensitivity, ensemble awareness and mutual trust. The program features works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff — composers whose music reflects the scale of their respective eras in different ways. I hope Symphony Time will give audiences an opportunity to hear familiar works in a new interpretation, while becoming an important stage in the orchestra’s artistic development,” Urazgaliyev said.
Erzhan Kulibaev opens the festival with Tchaikovsky on October 7
The first Symphony Time concert will take place on October 7, with violinist Erzhan Kulibaev as soloist.
The evening will be devoted entirely to Pyotr Tchaikovsky and will feature his Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 5.
The pairing places two different dimensions of Tchaikovsky’s music side by side. The Violin Concerto combines virtuosity with lyricism, while the Fifth Symphony shifts the focus toward the full orchestra and develops the theme of fate on a broad symphonic scale.
The October 7 concert is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
Alim Beisembayev to perform Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto
On October 9, pianist Alim Beisembayev will take the stage.
The first half of the program will feature Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, one of the best-known works in the international piano repertoire.
It will be followed by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. The program moves sharply from Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Romanticism to a symphonic world built on dramatic tension, contrast, lyrical episodes and a powerful final culmination.
The October 9 concert will also begin at 7:00 p.m.
Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff close the festival on October 11
The final evening of the festival will turn to 20th-century music.
On October 11, pianist Amir Tebenikhin will perform with Astana Ballet Orchestra.
He will play Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a work known for its technical demands, rapid development and sharply defined rhythmic energy.
The second major work of the evening will be Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, his final major composition. The score combines dramatic tension, lyricism and national musical elements with a richly colored orchestral palette.
The closing concert will begin at 6:00 p.m.
Three evenings will show the orchestra beyond ballet
For Astana Ballet Orchestra, Symphony Time creates a format in which the orchestra itself, together with the invited soloists, becomes the main focus of the audience.
Symphonic performance is not an entirely new direction for the ensemble. In 2022, the theatre reported that its symphony orchestra had given its first standalone concert, with 70 musicians performing under Arman Urazgaliyev. Amir Tebenikhin appeared as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.
This October, Tebenikhin will return to perform with the orchestra in the closing concert of the five-day festival.
All three Symphony Time concerts will take place at Astana Ballet Theatre on October 7, 9 and 11.
