For the first time in Kazakhstan, there will be a premiere of the opera Orlando Furioso by the great Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, El.kz cites astanaopera.kz.
The performances will take place on October 4 and 5 at Astana Opera’s Kulyash Baiseitova Chamber Hall. Here every viewer will have an opportunity to feel the high intensity of human passions, see how the witch’s spell falls and appreciate the talented work of the creative team of the capital’s opera house.
The preparation of this production fell on the shoulders of renowned cultural figures. The author of the new musical concept and stage director Ala Simonishvili (Italy) will present a fresh look at the famous classic. The opera Orlando Furioso in her interpretation will allow the modern audience to discover this Baroque era masterpiece in a new way. The music director and conductor of this production will be Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Abzal Mukhitdin. The skill of the opera house’s orchestra musicians under the Maestro’s baton will allow the viewers to feel the emotional richness of Vivaldi’s music, full of bright colours, powerful arias and ensembles.
“Even though Vivaldi is famous for his instrumental compositions, he also wrote many vocal works, including operas. The premiere of Orlando Furioso at our opera house will be a striking example of this. As a whole, chamber opera has its roots in the Baroque era. It was this genre of opera that became the basis for the further development of opera art. Thanks to such early composers as Claudio Monteverdi, the operas that we see today appeared, be it the works by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini or Georges Bizet. All these great composers learned from the masters of early opera, continuing the traditions laid down in the Baroque period. Domenico Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto or La Scala di Seta, created by the young Gioachino Rossini, already run at our opera house as part of the Piccolo Theatre project. These operas continue the traditions laid down in such early works as Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso. Thus, we see that our opera house delves deep, demonstrating to the audience the very origins of the emergence of opera art, thereby creating a logical chain,” Abzal Mukhitdin, the music director and conductor of the production, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan, said.
“In the opera Orlando Furioso, we see a chamber orchestra with no harps, timpani and trombones familiar to us. Primarily, a string group with rare flute or oboe solos is involved here. Such a light composition of the orchestra opens up a unique opportunity for us to trace how the musical language developed. Vivaldi’s approach to vocal parts is also interesting. The composer actively uses countertenors, contraltos, paying special attention to the low voices performing coloraturas. It is particularly important to note here that coloratura is not a characteristic of the pitch of the voice, as is commonly thought, but of its mobility. Thus, both a tenor and a baritone can be coloratura voices. An in-depth interaction between instrumental and vocal lines can be traced in this opera. This emphasizes Vivaldi’s uniqueness and innovation as a composer,” the Maestro explained.
The visual side of the production will also be at a high level thanks to set and costume designer Manana Gunia (Italy). The set elements will recreate the atmosphere of the times of brave warriors. Lighting designer Sergei Kulak will complement the visual perception with a competent play of light. Assistant conductor Ruslan Baimurzin, assistant set designer Gulmira Issemgaziyeva and assistant costume designer Dariga Taishikova help to implement the creative concept of the production into reality. And the head of the design and production team Victor Carare is responsible for the coordinated work of all specialists.
The plot of Orlando Furioso unfolds around the main character, the warrior Orlando, whose unrequited love for the beautiful Angelica leads him to madness. Orlando, experiencing passionate feelings, plunging into the abyss of jealousy and anger, loses his sanity. Against the backdrop of his emotions and a serious illness, other love lines develop, full of intrigue, which, ultimately, will still lead the heroes of the opera to a happy ending.
“Performing Vivaldi’s works requires incredible virtuosity not only from instrumentalists, but also from vocalists. His music is complex, and our soloists, who have a high level of skill, are able to handle this task. Vivaldi’s opera is a difficult, but inspiring goal for any vocalist. It requires mastering the early vocal technique, characteristic of the Baroque era. We can confidently say that our opera house has reached a level where it can afford to perform such technically complex works,” Abzal Mukhitdin concluded.
Famous soloists will perform in the premiere of the opera, including Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan Saltanat Akhmetova, Leila Alamanova (Bradamante), holder of the Order of Qurmet Aizada Kaponova, Assem Sembina (Angelica), Tatyana Vitsinskaya, Saltanat Muratbekova (Alcina), Rassul Zharmagambetov, Sultan Bakytzhan (Orlando), Artur Gabdiyev, Abylai Beken (Medoro), Narul Toikenov, Batyrzhan Smakov, Talgat Allabirinov (Ruggiero), Altynbek Abilda and Yermek Kassym (Astolfo).
The artists devote hours to rehearsals, perfecting their vocal parts and getting into character. New challenges are being addressed at each stage of the production, and each of the soloists strives to convey Vivaldi’s work in the best possible way, because this is the opera house’s first work on an opera by this great Italian composer. This increases the significance of the production many times over…