Abai Kazakh State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet premiered new version of “Kyz Zhibek” opera dedicated to the 115th birth anniversary of the composer Yevgeny Brusilovsky as well as birth anniversaries of the opera’s first stage director Kurmanbek Dzhandarbekov and the lead actor Kanabek Baiseitov. The opera about the true love has been staged for 86 years. Due to creative solutions in direction and scenography, this time the opera was performed in a new way.
“This story is legendary, symbolic. Three worlds are represented: the accurate world of people. There is the world of swans - young women, the world of ravens - robbers. We tried to apply to such symbolism to represent the world,” said the stage director Mikhail Panjavidze.
Thus, spectators managed to enjoy a story about pure love, swan loyalty and betrayal. The stage director said that this is a tragedy, but at the same time, a lyrical song about the heroes’ willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of strong feelings. Musicians did a lot of work as well. The conductor tried to grasp the emotional threads and phrases in the play. Therefore, the accompaniment sounded in time with the heroine’s happy and excitingly worrying experiences. Venera Alpysbayeva, who played Kyz Zhibek, also faced a difficult task.
“In the first act, people see Zhibek as a young and cheerful daughter of her father, she does not know adversities. She enjoys life. Then, in the fourth act, there is another Zhibek, filled with grief, when she finds out about Tolegen’s death. We can say that she seems to be getting old on stage. This was the challenge - to convey different natures of the character,” shared Venera Alpysbayeva, Soloist of Abai Kazakh State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.
The new performance is also interesting, because it was recreated in the genre of a conversational opera. At the same time, there were many dance fragments on the stage.
