16.05.2012

Ballet Spartacus opens jubilee Nuriev Festival

(Kazan, May 15, Tatar-inform, Lucia Kamalova). The anniversary 25th Nuriev Ballet Festival on Tuesday night opened in Kazan. This year’s edition is remarkable for one more date, 20 years since the famous Nuriev performed at the Tatar Opera Theatre. The dance legend then agreed to his name being given to the festival.

“Exactly 25 years ago, the first show of our festival that was rather modest and humble took place. We did not know what would come out of it but it was immediately clear the audience took to it and we began to cherish our brainchild,” ballet’s artistic director Vladimir Yakovlev said at the opening, his voice slightly trembling with anxiety.

“I want to congratulate everyone, it is a true feast for all of us, for the theatre whose company has grown to match the European level. It is not accidental that Western countries have for so many years been inviting the Tatar Opera and Ballet Theatre on tour,” critic Natalia Sadovskaya noted.

The ballet Spartacus, directed by a famous choreographer Georgy Kovtun, was then presented. The show is a two-act fantasy based on antique myths and Ancient Rome’s chronicles, and music composed by Aram Khachaturyan. It is one of the Tatar Opera’s most scenic and largest shows that includes over 500 costumes, 3D projection, special smoke effects and a dancing choir.

Formerly a stand-in, Georgy Kovtun filled the show with complex stunts and supports. The Tatar Opera and Ballet premier dancer Mikhail Timayev performed the part of Spartacus. The part of Livia was performed by the premier dancer Kristina Andreeva.

Karen Durgaryan, a conductor at the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, was last night at the conductor’s stand.

“The ballet Spartacus is spectacular and grand, it looks like its director Kovtun, who is quite an energetic person. When I first met him in Saint-Petersburg, he told me I had no idea what kind of a show would be staged in Kazan. It was for Kovtun that I found myself in your beautiful theatre, where there is a proficient orchestra,” Karen Durgaryan told a news conference before the performance.

The festival’s poster includes 9 shows and 2 gala concerts. The list mostly includes classic pieces, selected by time and popular both in Russia and the rest of the world. They are Giselle, Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Don Quixote and Le Corsaire.

Besides, the repertory includes the ballet Anyuta by V. Gavrilin, directed by V. Vasiliev, and Tatar national gem, ballet Shurale by F. Yarullin.