MODERNIZATION AND CULTURE: Currently we try to educate in all professions for art institutions - Aiman Musakhodjaeva, Rector of the Kazakhstan National Art University

Aiman Musakhodjaeva, the Rector of the Kazakhstan National Art University (KNAU), Honored Artist of Kazakhstan, Artist of the World, the world-famous "Queen of violin", is telling about the KNAU work and its plans for future.

- Aiman Kozhabekovna, this year Kazakh National University of Arts chaired by you is celebrating its 15th anniversary. What achievements does KNAU greet its birthday with?

- In 1998, with the support of the Head of State there was created National Academy of Music and this year we started our count. In 2009 our academy received a new status and now it is called the Kazakh National University of Arts.

Of course, in accordance with our new higher status we are expanding the list of specialties which are taught at the university. Over the past three years there have been invented new specialties such as film and television, ballet, choreography, visual arts - painters and sculptors, design, pop and theater. Academy of Music conducted training only in "performance art" - vocals, folk instruments, classical, brass, choral singing. It allows us to prepare new products, For example, the reporting of the concert in honor of the 15th anniversary of the University the students have prepared the "Polovtsian Dances" from Borodin's opera "Prince Igor." There have been engaged an orchestra, chorus, soloists and choreography. In addition, the animation on the screen was prepared by students of film and television department. The play involved theatergoers - directors, actors. Our students for the first time in Kazakhstan have performed choral presentation of "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff.

The university is located in Astana and it was set up with the support of Nursultan Nazarbayev, and now it operates under his patronage for staffing art institutions of Astana and the republic as a whole. A lot of things have been done over the years as we needed to create the opera house, concert hall to strengthen the Kazakh and Russian theaters. All these institutions, all orchestras in Astana, the Orchestra of the Ministry of Defense and the Presidential orchestra are provided with KNAU graduates.

- Nowadays we often have a variety of shows. Do you prepare such specialists?

- Yes, of course. Time demands new forms of art. Show business is actively developing and it requires personnel for organizing all kinds of festive events and concerts.

- Does KNAU cooperate with foreign universities?

- Yes, it has. We have signed agreements and memoranda with the most renowned institutions of art - such as Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatory, Belarus and Kiev Academy of Music, the Vienna Academy of Music, London Royal Academy of Music, the Roman Academy of Santa Cecilia, the Milan Conservatory, the Cologne Conservatory, and many others. As part of the academic mobility we send our students to the above mentioned institutions for one semester training. Last year, for instance, 16 of KNAU students were enrolled in the conservatory of Italian city of Matera.

- What are your plans for the upcoming holiday – Day of the Capital?

- Our musical bands will take part in the general concerts. We are also participating in the "Astana Keshtery" (Astana evenings) festival. In general, the holiday events will involve all our artists.

Speaking specifically, we plan to perform some of the concert items, for example, "Polovtsian Dances" and "Carmina Burana". In general, we have big plans for this year. In early June the University will have a concert in honor of the Chairman of the European Union.