The performances will be held as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Astana, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ballet Masters – the People’s Artists of Russia Altynai Asylmuratova and Andris Liepa will stage the legendary choreographer’s one-act ballets at the Astana Opera.

The ballets Les Sylphides and Scheherazade were staged by an outstanding twentieth century choreographer, innovator M. Fokine. Les Sylphides is a romantic ballet based on the music of Frédéric Chopin’s piano works. Artistic Director of the Astana Opera Ballet Company Altynai Asylmuratova will present Les Sylphides to the capital’s audience. The viewers will be able to appreciate breathtaking choreography and Alexandre Benois and Orest Allegri’s expressive scenery, which will be recreated by a production team under the leadership of Victor Carare. The sets will preserve the poetic spirit of that time. Costumes will be recreated by the Kazakhstani costume designer, graduate of the Istituto Marangoni (Milan, Italy) Arassel Dosmuratova. She used delicate, almost weightless fabrics for in order to make ‘ethereal costumes’.

The ballet Scheherazade to the music of N. Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite was staged in the early twentieth century – during the flourishing of ballet art. People’s Artist of Russia Andris Liepa undertook the task of staging this completed one-act ballet to an Eastern theme at the Kazakhstani opera house. It is based on a plot from the One Thousand and One Nights tale Story of King Shahriar and His Brother.

One of Russia’s leading set designers Anatoly Nezhny is responsible for the scenery. He will revive the sets of one of the brightest theatre designers Léon Bakst, who worked a lot in St. Petersburg and Paris, and was a trendsetter for exotica and orientalism in the European fashion of the early twentieth century.

Talented Elena Netsvetaeva-Dolgaleva, known to the Astana Opera’s audience by the productions of A. Khachaturian’s Spartacus and P. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, will recreate the sumptuous costumes of this famous twentieth century artist.

Music Director and Conductor – Arman Urazgaliyev.

The performance will begin on November 30 at 19:00, on December 1 at 18:00.