Ballet spectacle

YURY GRIGOROVICH, choreographer and librettist
ABZAL MUKHTIDIN, conductor

Spartacus: BAKHTIYAR ADAMZHAN
Crassus: ARMAN URAZOV
Phrygia: MADINA UNERBAYEVA
Aegina: AIGERIM BEKETAYEVA

THE STATE OPERA AND BALLET THEATRE ASTANA OPERA
SLOVENIAN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Aram Khachaturian began writing the ballet Spartacus  in December 1941, during the most tragic days of the Second World War. He was greatly inspired by the heroic figure of Spartacus and the theme of the slave revolt in ancient Rome. The work was completed in 1954 and premiered two years later. The ballet was perfected in 1968 when Yury Grigorovich, a master of Soviet ballet, developed a new, psychologistic production, tense with tragedy. The music embodies the best qualities of the composer: bright imagery, exuberant ensemble scenes and a unique melodicism which organically combines European sound with oriental undertones. The ballet will be performed by The State Opera and Ballet Theatre Astana Opera in collaboration with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. The Theatre was founded in 2013 on the initiative of the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and has quickly established itself as one of the biggest institutions of its kind in Central Asia thanks to worldwide tours and collaborations with stars such as Plácido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, and Anna Netrebko. Besides performing top classical works, their repertoire is characterised by a desire to support Kazakh composers. Already last year, Astana Opera has dazzled audiences with its performances of various ballet excerpts.