16.01.2013

Opera Aida prepared for being shown during Shaliapin Festival 2013 in Kazan

(Kazan, January 16, Tatar-inform, Ekaterina Vislavskaya). The preparation for the 31st Fedor Shaliapin international opera festival is in full swing at the Jalil Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kazan. Tatar-inform correspondents took a peek into the theatre’s workshops and watched a rehearsal of the about-to-premiere opera Aida.

The rehearsals began on 13 January, when the guest actors and director, Yuri Alexandrov, arrived in Tatarstan’s capital. The festival due to open in February, the theatre is working hard. The scenery for the premiere show on Wednesday arrived in Kazan.

Twenty seamstresses in the sewing shop can hardly find time for a break, since in the two months, allocated to prepare for the show, of which two weeks are left, they are expected to produce about 170 costumes. The original designs were made in Moscow, while tailors in Kazan are materialising them. Most of the fabrics have been delivered from Moscow.

“This one is not your usual show. Not in all shows do we use construction materials, to make costumes,” sewing shop chief, Lilia Maslova, shared. “Thermal insulation is, for instance, used to make costumes for the priests.”

The scene shop employees are probably doing the most difficult work, producing baculi, fans and sacrifice bowls. They are made from cardboard paper, paper and foam plastic. One helmet weighs 300 grams to 3 kilograms.

The Shaliapin Opera Festival is one of the Tatarstan and Russia’s keynote cultural events. It will take place on 1 to 16 February, marking what would have been the great bass singer's 140th birthday. Artistes from Germany, Italy, Ukraine and other countries will perform.

Photos from the Tatar-inform's backstage tour are available here -- www.tatar-inform.ru/news/2013/01/16/345196/.