Exciting programs of vocal and instrumental music as well as engaging children’s concerts will be featured for the residents and guests of the capital at the Astana Opera Chamber Hall in February.
On February 2, at 12.00, the magical Journey of Peer Gynt to the music of Edvard Grieg based on the popular play by Henrik Ibsen will continue the exciting series Classical Music for Children. The music from Grieg’s suite Peer Gynt and individual pieces from Children’s Songs will be performed. A staging to the plot of the famous fairytale about Peer Gynt, an adventurer and dreamer who wanders in foreign lands for many years in search of wealth, glory and happiness, will be presented to the young theatregoers. The outstanding musical composition and Ibsen’s play praise Norway and the majestic northern beauty of its nature. The Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra, Children’s Studio and Supernumeraries, Conductor – Ruslan Baimurzin, Stage Director – Natalya Kagadiy, Head of the Children’s Studio – Altynganym Akhmetova, Head of the Supernumeraries – Honored Artist of Kazakhstan Galiya Baigazinova, Musicologist – Saule Mauletova.
On February 5, at 19.00, a concert Adamzattyn Abaiy from the series Abai Alemi, dedicated to the 175th anniversary of Abai Kunanbayev, will be held. The music and poetry evening will be presented by the Chamber Choir of the State Academic Philharmonic of Nur-Sultan Akimat, Artistic Director and Conductor – Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Gulmira Kuttybadamova, Choirmaster – Yerzhan Sansyzbayev, Accompanist – Gulden Bazyken. Famous opera singers, Honoured Workers of Kazakhstan, Principal Soloist of Astana Opera Talgat Mussabayev and Azamat Zheltyrguzov, as well as vocalists Asylzhan Kaipov, Zhubanysh Zetova, Yerkebulan Abdikalykov, Manshuk Kurmangazina, Zhandos Baibosynov and Nurzhan Sagynai (dombyra) will also appear on the Chamber Hall stage. The program features poems, monologues, duets, romances and choral works to Abai’s verses, works by Kazakh composers – Nurgissa Tlendiev, Gaziza Zhubanova, Sydyk Mukhamedzhanov, Sanzhar Baiterekov, Aigerim Seilova, Mansur Sagatov, Alibi Abdinurov, Birzhan-sal, Shakarim Kudaiberdiyev, Akhmet Zhubanov and Latyf Khamidi.
On February 8, at 17:00, the audience will be offered a concert Enchanting France from the FORTE-TRIO Invites series. The State Trio of the Republic of Kazakhstan FORTE-TRIO includes well-known instrumentalists, international competitions laureates: Dinara Bazarbayeva-Sakhaman (violin), Murat Narbekov (cello) and the Artistic Director of the collective – Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Timur Urmancheyev (piano). The program of the evening features Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor and Chausson’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op.3. In addition, the team will present the vocal works by French composers in collaboration with the Honoured Workers of Kazakhstan, Astana Opera Soloist Bibigul Zhanuzak and Azamat Zheltyrguzov.
On February 9, at 12.00, Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale Peter and the Wolf in English awaits the children. Senior preschoolers and schoolchildren of grades 1-5 will make an educational journey into the world of music and get acquainted with symphony orchestra instruments. Vivid illustrations of the video footage will help children’s perception of musical material. Each character’s role in the fairytale is assigned to a separate instrument or group of instruments: strings (Peter), flute (bird), oboe (duck), bassoon (grandfather), clarinet (cat), horn (wolf), timpani, big drum and wind instruments (hunters). The work will be performed by the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ruslan Baimurzin, and musicologist Lira Bekbolatova will narrate.
On February 12, at 19.00, an evening of chamber music From Solo to Quartet will take place. It will feature artists of the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra – international competitions laureates Aizhan Yermukhanova, Talshyn Keshilbayeva, Maruzat Sergazyzyzy (violins), Leonid Mysovsky (viola), Nazym Ualiyeva (cello), Kamilya Akhmetova (piano). Young musicians will present popular classical works of 20th century composers for solo violin, two violins, piano trio and string quartet. Almas Serkebayev’s Piano Sonata in C minor (Finale), Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins in C major, Op.56, Astor Piazzolla’s Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108 will be performed.
On February 16, at 17.00, the concert Opera Passions will feature the most striking characters of popular operas and operettas. Works by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Thomas, Leoncavallo, Lehár, Dunayevsky and others will be performed by talented young vocalists and orchestra musicians. The opera house’s soloists Yelena Ganzha, Nazym Sagintai, Assem Sembina (sopranos), Ramzat Balakishiyev (tenor), Yerzhan Saipov (baritone), Shyngys Rasylkhan (bass) will take the stage of the Chamber Hall. Piano – Raushan Beskembirova, Zhanyl Rakhimbekova.
On February 20, at 19.00, vocal and instrumental music concert Ode to Viennese School, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, will take place. Graduates of the Vienna Conservatory Aigul Shamshidenova (soprano, Kazakhstan/Austria) and Yelizaveta Sergeyeva (mezzo-soprano, Austria), as well as Batyrzhan Smakov (countertenor), Honoured Artist of Kazakhstan Makpal Bekmagambetova, Madina Kapeu (violins), Askar Mukanov (cello), Raushan Beskembirova (piano) will perform works by classical composers of the Vienna school – Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, as well as by German Romantic composers – Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, etc.
On February 23, at 12.00, a concert in the Kazakh language Musical Diversity of Voices will be offered to the youngest classical music fans. As part of the entertaining program, musicologist Tolegen Nazarbekov will introduce children to all types of operatic voices, from soprano to bass, in order to instill a taste for vocal art in the younger generation. The opera house soloists will perform works by classical composers, Neapolitan songs, etc. The concert will also feature the choir of the Astana Opera Children’s Studio headed by Altynganym Akhmetova. Piano – Raushan Beskembirova.
On February 26, at 19.00, students of one of the most famous music educational institutions in the world – Mozarteum University Salzburg in Austria – will present an evening of piano music Pianists Run the Show. Young talented musicians from different countries – Temirlan Beissenbai (Kazakhstan), Asuka Tagami, Shigetoshi Ezawa (Japan), Asami Pascal Murayama, piano duet Sànchez & Fortuny: Bernat Sánchez Farrés and Júlia Fortuny Castellano (Spain), Daniel Ochoa Gaxiola (Mexico), as well as their teacher, Professor Andreas Groethuysen, will perform piano solos and duets. The rich program includes works by composers Takemitsu, Mozart, Albéniz, Granados, Ponce, Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Czerny, Rachmaninoff.
On February 29, at 17.00, the concert Music Meetings in the Capital City will feature performances by students of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory Central Music School – one of the most prestigious in Russia. All participants of the Music Meetings are promising young artists, international competitions laureates who often perform recitals in different countries. The initiator of the project is a laureate of the V International Festival of Classical Music and Competition for Young Pianists “Astana Piano Passion” Aliya Assanova. Instrumentalists Ablai Nurlybek, Dalila Azimova (violins), Ruta Vaytkute (flute), Fedor Vishnevsky (clarinet), Aliya Assanova, Beata Prokhorova, Sofya Menshikova (piano) will present their art this evening.
