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 Produced by Xinhua Global Service

The Astana Opera will perform in Tbilisi for the first time. The Georgian audience will have a long-awaited unforgettable meeting with music from Kazakh works, as well as world masterpieces performed by the opera house’s principal soloists, symphony orchestra and choir conducted by the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal Mukhitdin. The tour concert “Steppe Melodies in Tbilisi” will take place on September 23 at the Shota Rustaveli National State Academic Theatre.

“The tour geography of the Astana Opera is expanding every year. Our artists and musicians are warmly and cordially welcomed both in Kazakhstan and abroad. Each performance abroad is an important and exciting event, because we represent not only our opera house, but also the country, introducing foreigners to national culture, which, as practice shows, is of great interest around the world. Therefore, we always include the national authors’ works in our tour programs. This is a wonderful opportunity to tell about our country in the universal language of music, understandable without words,” Galym Akhmedyarov, the Astana Opera’s general director, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, noted.

The tour to the Georgian capital promises to be a spectacular event. Abzal Mukhitdin, the Astana Opera’s deputy principal conductor, is preparing an impressive gala program, which will consist of a large block of music from Kazakh operas and instrumental works, as well as celebrated arias and ensembles from operas by world-famous composers.

According to the Maestro, the opera house’s long-term fruitful collaboration with Georgian colleagues Manana Gunia and Ala Simonishvili will be reflected in the exhibition of costumes from the productions of the Piccolo Theatre project in the foyer of the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and the opera buffa scenes presented in the concert.

“The performance of a Georgian opera aria by our soloist, as well as the sound of a dombyra will be a delightful surprise for many,” Abzal Mukhitdin shared.

Artists and musicians are thoroughly preparing for a tour to Tbilisi: Georgia is known throughout the world for its special love for music, in particular, for vocal music. The program announced the participation of the opera house’s principal soloists, Honored Workers of Kazakhstan Saltanat Akhmetova, Aigul Niyazova, Zhanat Shybykbayev, Medet Chotabayev, Meir Bainesh, as well as laureates of international and national competitions Gulzhanat Sapakova, Tatyana Vitsinskaya, Yevgeniy Chainikov, Yerzhan Saipov, Artur Gabdiyev. The opera house’s opera company director is the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Azamat Zheltyrguzov.

As a reminder, in the previous anniversary season, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Astana Opera performed in Baku, Moscow, Minsk, as well as in Poland and Slovenia and many regions of Kazakhstan. For the opera house, touring is an important part of its development, an indispensable element of improvement and exchange of experience. Therefore, in the new 11th season, the Astana Opera plans to continue active touring.