The Astana Opera celebrates the New Year with rich musical programs, including New Year with Vivaldi and Piazzolla, El.kz cites astanaopera.kz
On December 27, the principal first violin of the Astana Opera Symphony Orchestra, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Bagdat Abilkhanov, and the opera house’s Chamber Orchestra will demonstrate their skills to the audience. Italian Baroque masterpieces and Argentine tango will be performed under the baton of Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, conductor Aidar Abzhakhanov.
Aidar Abzhakhanov has extensive conducting experience. He performed at the world’s leading venues more than once, and completed an internship at the legendary Italian Teatro alla Scala. He participated in the Bartók Festival with Savaria Symphony (Szombathely, Hungary), in master classes by Zoltán Peskó, Salvador Mas i Conde at the Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra in Vienna, Austria. He has been a music director and conductor of dozens of ballet productions.
With a wave of his baton, the Venetian spirit of the 17th century will come to life in the music of Antonio Vivaldi, and under his leadership, the Astana Opera Chamber Orchestra will take listeners into the atmosphere of Buenos Aires, created by Astor Piazzolla.
Thus, in the first part of the concert, the Astana Opera’s musicians will present Vivaldi’s cycle Le Quattro Stagioni. Each composition, from picturesque spring to mystical winter, will reveal unique shades of different seasons to the listeners through magnificent music. Incidentally, this is one of the most famous works by Vivaldi and of the Baroque era in general. By the end of the 20th century, more than 200 recordings of this musical cycle had been released, one of which set a world sales record in the field of classical music. Arrangements of Le Quattro Stagioni for various musical instruments are popular, and the cycle’s themes are widely used in pop and rock music, in film soundtracks and as ice dancing accompaniment.
The second part of the evening will feature Astor Piazzolla’s Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas. The music of this Argentine composer, imbued with the passion of tango, will create a bridge between Italian Baroque and Latin American motifs. Piazzolla’s Verano Porteño, Otoño Porteño, Primavera Porteña and Invierno Porteño are full of passion, rhythm and expression. The composer himself performed them both together and separately from each other.
This concert will become not only a musical event, thanks to Bagdat Abilkhanov’s solo violin and the harmony of the orchestra, but a real journey through time and space. The Astana Opera once again will give its audience the magic of art, reminding them of the eternity of music that unites different eras and cultures.