Love, Betrayal and Revenge at the Astana Opera House

The inspired performance of Astana Opera’s orchestra and soloists, as well as the choir of the North Kazakhstan Regional Philharmonic, conducted by the author of the project, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, holder of the Order of Parasat Abzal Mukhitdin and the unusual staging ideas made the concert performance truly exciting and interesting. Incidentally, the artistic director of the choir of the North Kazakhstan Regional Philharmonic, Honored Artist of Kazakhstan, holder of the Order of Parasat Yuri Kolchin, is celebrating his 80th anniversary this year, Kazinform refers to the Astana Opera’s Press Office.

Rachmaninoff’s expressive music revealed to the listeners the characters’ personalities, and the picturesque imagery of the gypsy camp, spread out on the riverbank, was vividly rendered in the viewers’ imagination. The motives of love, jealousy, mental anxiety and imminent death were recognizable in the melodies...

Astana Opera’s soloists, the Astana Opera International Opera Academy attendees and soloists of the Helikon-Opera Youth Program portrayed the main characters. Thus, Dinmukhamed Koshkinbayev and Vasily Uporov performed the title role of the young, selfish Aleko. The protagonist’s cavatina «Ves’ tabor spit», considered to be one of the best works of operatic art, sounded heartfelt and emotional in their interpretation.

«My hero suffers from loneliness. He seeks affection and warmth, but his hopes for a happy family life will not come true. He is full of jealousy on account of Zemfira, completely absorbed by this feeling. This overshadows his mind, and Aleko kills his unfaithful lover. In order to convey to the audience the entire range of emotions inherent in this work, we have done a lot of work with the conductor, Maestro Abzal Mukhitdin. In the process of preparation, we learned many interesting facts about the creation of the opera and discovered the musical portraits of the characters. It is a great honor for me to perform Aleko at the premiere in our opera house. Thanks to everyone for this opportunity,» Dinmukhamed Koshkinbayev noted.

Shyngys Rassylkhan and guest soloist, bass Ilya Markov, presented the Old Man, Zemfira’s Father. The artists managed to convey the wisdom and sense of justice of their hero.

Tenors with a velvety sound Narul Toikenov and Vladislav Chizhov performed the Young Gypsy. The Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Aigul Niyazova and Galina Cheplakova performed the beautiful Zemfira. Tatyana Vitsinskaya and Gulzhanat Sapakova took the stage as the Gypsy Woman. The famous singers perfectly conveyed the portrayals from both vocal and acting points of view.

The narrator, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, People’s Artist of Kyrgyzstan, stage director of the capital’s Gorky Drama Theatre Sergey Matveyev, is worth a separate mention. Thanks to his rendition, the concert version of the opera was presented in a pure, classical form, brilliant, as it was created by 19-year-old Rachmaninoff in only 17 days.

The composer wrote the opera based on Pushkin’s famous narrative poem, reworked into a libretto by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, known in his time as a writer and playwright. The protagonist Aleko, a runaway, having escaped his usual environment, «the captivity of stuffy cities» for the sake of the steppe freedom, has been wandering for two years with the camp and his beloved, the gypsy Zemfira. One day, having caught his beloved being unfaithful, Aleko kills both Zemfira and her young lover. Gypsies who reject blood, hatred and violence drive the murderer out of the camp.

«The concert performance of the opera Aleko reflected the deep psychologism of the characters. The music of the opera won me over with sincerity of expression and melodic generosity. It was especially gratifying to listen to this work in honor of Rachmaninoff’s 150th anniversary,» listener Aida Bekturova said after the premiere.