“We have been preparing for this concert for about two months already. The new program features various numbers, including the march from G. Bizet’s opera Carmen, the Kazakh folk song Yapyrai, as well as an excerpt from G. Puccini’s opera Turandot, which will be premiering very soon at the Main Hall. Partly we will show the repertoire from the V theatrical season. There are kids in our studio who have been studying from the moment of its opening until today, and there are children who came here about two or three years ago. The pupils of the children’s studio, who are studying and performing at the Astana Opera for all these five years, set the level for the collective. These guys aspire to make the high art their profession, many of them have already decided for themselves that their future careers will be connected with the opera house,” says the head of the children’s choir Altynganym Akhmetova.

In this concert, many boys will be performing solo numbers for the first time. The boys from the younger group will perform the popular repertoire of the Italian singer Robertino Loretti: Santa Lucia, O Sole Mio, Funiculì, Funiculà and others. Girls from the older group prepared a complex program, they will present polyphonic works. Young dancers of the ballet studio prepared a rich program. Thus, the evening will feature such numbers as the Kazakh folk dance Sholpy, a variation from J. Bayer’s ballet Die Puppenfee (The Fairy Doll), a polka from L. Minkus’ ballet La Bayadère, Kitri’s variation from L. Minkus’ ballet Don Quixote and much more.

The goal of the Astana Opera Children’s Studio is to enable children to discover their creative potential and develop their talents.

“The young artists reached the first anniversary with great achievements: the studio graduates are already studying at universities in Kazakhstan, near and far abroad. Young singers and dancers participate in concert programs, opera and ballet productions and even go on tour together with adult artists. The children who have a great interest in art, good scenic qualities and musical abilities are engaged in the studio. The youngest studio artists today are 7 years old. It is very important for us to help children express their individual personalities to the full. If the child consciously chooses the profession of an artist or a musician, he or she will have very high achievements. If they do not follow this path, they will undoubtedly have achievements in other areas, because, thanks to acting skills, acquired in childhood, they will become unselfconscious and free. All this helps them to achieve greater goals in their adult years,” explains the stage director of the Astana Opera Natalya Kagadiy.

The audience can see the pupils of the choir studio in Y. Brussilovsky’s opera Kyz Zhibek, M. Tulebayev’s Birzhan – Sara, G. Puccini’s Tosca and La Boheme, G. Bizet’s Carmen. The students of the ballet studio performed onstage together with the artists of the legendary Milanese Teatro alla Scala in the production of L. Minkus’ ballet Don Quixote, and in Richard Wagner’s opera Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold) within the framework of the Mariinsky Theatre tour. For the first time, the pupils of the choir and ballet studios took part in a unique project – The Journey of Peer Gynt, involving the symphony orchestra, as well as the adult artists.

The head of the choir studio is Altynganym Akhmetova; the head of the ballet studio is Amina Aliyeva. The Astana Opera stage director, the acting coach of the children’s studio is Natalya Kagadiy.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/tsm/press/news/details/27754?lang=kk