Astana Opera opens opera and ballet studios for children

Kazakhstan’s Astana Opera theater will hold audition for opera and ballet studios for childern, Tengrinews reports. According to a representative of Astana Opera, the age requirement for each studio is different: ballet studio will take children from the age of 8 to 10, opera studio is ready to enroll kids of the age of 6 to15. The choir and instrumental ensemble will audit kids at the age of 10-16. Certainly, all the candidates should be talented and possess at least basic music and dancing skills. "The classes will cost 10 thousand tenge ($65) per month for students regardless of the type of studio, be it ballet or opera. The payment is also needed to make the parents more responsible in terms of bringing their kids for classes regularly and not drop out," the Manager of the Children Studio of Astana Opera Academy Maiya Beknazar said. According to her, the classes will take place several times a week, for instance, the ballet classes will be held 6 times a week. "The theater is a large building that has big expenses. We did some research within Astana, and found that the cost of private lessons ranges from 3 to 5 thousand tenge ($20-33) per hour, that is why the 10 thousand tenge ($65) payment for classes in s theater like Astana Opera and participation in concerts is a fairly small contribution," Beknazar added. The young students will participate in opera performances and concerts together with professional artists as well as in their own children's spectacles. Besides, the music director of the theater Abzal Mukhitdinov said that they were planning to establish a children's symphony orchestra in Astana Opera. He said they were going to invite foreign experts to teach some of the classes for the junior musicians. "We already have an agreement with teachers from the La Scala Academy. They will arrive to Astana to teach the classes for our students, form vocal classes to Italian lessons. Opera was born in Italy. If a kid is studying for an opera career from an early age he or she will be fluent in Italian by the time of graduation from school," Mukhitdinov said. Parents, who want their children to participate in audition, can download an application form from the official website of the theater (the section about the theater), then fill it in and mail the application to detskayastudiya.astanaopera@mail.ru before the deadline, February 20, 2014. On February 21, in the second half of the day the list of candidates approved for audition will be posted on the official website of Astana Opera. The audition for children will be held in the Astana Opera house on February 22 and 23. The theater is located on Kunayev street, at the crossing with Turan Av. By Altynai Zhumzhumina