International Opera Festival held in Almaty

International Opera Festival is held in Almaty, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the director of Abai State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (GATOB) Gabit Nessipbayev as saying at the press-conference on the festival. This time the festival is timed to the 200th anniversary of the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Two Verdi's operas Traviata and Aida will be performed on GATOB's stage on April 4-7. The Requiem will be performed for the first time in many years. The theater currently has 5 Verdi's masterpieces in its repertoire. According to Nessipbayev, the festival will be principally different from the previous ones because it will only cover the opera art, while the previous fests included ballet in the program as well. He noted that it was not easy to select the soloists and directors. "We have solved these issues successfully," he said. Representatives of the world's opera stage will perform at the theater's stage for four days: Romanian bandmaster Cristian Sandu, Italian tenor Diego Kavadzin, Turkish baritone Peker and others. Kazakhstan will be represented by bandmaster Alan Buribayev, GATOB soloists Dina Khamzina, Zhupar Gabdullina, Gulzat Daurbayeva, Bolat Yessimkhanov, Sara Ischanova, Beibit Kozhabayev and others. The festival will also include master classes for GATOB soloists, students of Kyrmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts and directors of Almaty theaters. One of the master classes will be devoted to dramatic interpretation of Giuseppe Verdi's opera characters. The seminar will be held by professor of History of Theater and Performing Arts in the Arts Faculty at Milan State University and the Artistic Director of Teatro Giacosa di Ivrea Paolo Bosisio. He will also stage Mozart's Don Juan opera in GATOB in June 2013. By Assemgul Kassenova