This is what the famous journalist of the newspapers L’Eco and Liguria Notizie art critic Claudio Almanzi writes.

“In Genoa, the expectations and curiosity of music and dance connoisseurs were not betrayed by the ballet dancers of the Astana Opera. At the Teatro Carlo Felice, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker was, in fact, presented at a level close to perfection, a real triumph. It was a magical, enchanting evening. Audience was very enthusiastic for this beautiful staging that has captured the dreams of the lucky people in attendance thanks to the spectacular choreography of the great master Yuri Grigorovich. Numerous applauses for the protagonists and the corps de ballet composed of 36 professionals of the highest level. Altynai Asylmuratova is the Artistic Director of the famous Astana Opera Ballet Company. The Astana Opera (Kazakhstan), despite being founded only in 2013, in a few years has already become one of the most appreciated and sought-after on the international arena.”

The Italian and Spanish viewers profusely shared their comments on social networks. For example, a fan of the Kazakh company Gabriella Cavallaro regularly writes posts and comments on the performances of the Astana Opera’s artists: “A perfect performance, a rare, unique art! Congratulations! We will be there on January 13th…. I think it will be excellent; the company from Astana is very good.” (Parole sante! Una esecuzione perfetta, una arte rara, unica! Complimenti! Ci saremo il 13 ….penso sia bellissimo la compagnia di Astana sono bravissimi).

In Valencia (Spain), interesting opinions about the performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake staged by Altynai Asylmuratova were written by journalists from news agencies News4europe.eu, Valenciaplaza.com, Efe.com, Micuenta.levante-emv.com, Elperiodicodeaqui.com, Premsavalenciana.es and many others.

“The performers of the main parts Aigerim Beketayeva (Odette – Odile), Olzhas Tarlanov (Prince Siegfried) and Serik Nakyspekov (Joker) attracted everyone’s attention. The latter has demonstrated excellent aplomb, but the audience was even more awestruck by the dancer’s ability to make numerous high jumps and complex pirouettes, while maintaining a smile. Tall and graceful Aigerim Beketayeva and Olzhas Tarlanov conveyed a range of feelings. It was clear that Kazakh ballet school is not only a virtuoso mastery of classical dance technique, but also the ability to create character interpretations with acting technique. Conductor Arman Urazgaliyev deftly led the orchestra: the musicians’ performance was very beautiful,” journalist of the Efe news agency said.

The viewer Penades Nieves wrote on the social network after the premiere that she could watch this ballet every day. (Penades Nieves: “Espectacular! La vería todos los días!”).

The Kazakh dancers presented final five performances of Swan Lake in Italy. Needless to say, there was a great anticipation for the ballet company’s arrival. The tickets for all the performances were sold out as soon as they went on sale. Italians from neighboring cities came to see the ballet masterpiece in Genoa.

The dancers return to Kazakhstan on January 14, they are a little tired, but happy that they could worthily represent the country abroad.

Let us remind that the European tour began with the Italian premiere of the national opera masterpiece – Zhubanov and Khamidi’s Abai in November 2018 and continued with ballet performances in Italy and Spain.

The tour took place within the framework of the “Rukhani Zhangyru” program with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.