On Sept. 17, the Astana Opera will open the International Silk Road Festival with the timeless opera Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini. This is a big event for the Astana Opera and will be highlighted by renowned “Tosca” singer Anna Pirozzi (Italy,) famous tenor Massimo Giordano as Cavaradossi (Italy) and brilliant Italian opera singer Alberto Gazale ias Scarpia.
Kazakhstan audiences loved Pirozzi’s Tosca, which premiered in May of this year.
Eminent Giordano (tenor) and Gazale (baritone) will sing for metropolitan opera goers for the first time.
Famed for his vocal prowess and outstanding dramatic abilities, Giordano performs on the world’s most famous stages. He has worked with leading conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Bruno Campanella, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Lorin Maazel and others, as well as with such famous directors as Franco Zeffirelli, Luca Ronconi, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Alberto Fassino, Declan Donnellan, Liliana Cavani and Graham Vick.
Gazale, with his timbre rich baritone, performed more than seventy roles on the stages of the most prestigious concert halls and opera houses such as La Scala, the Vienna Staatsoper, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Opera House in Zurich and the Megaron in Athens amongst many others. His repertoire includes such operas as “Attila,” “La Traviata,” “Il Trovatore,” “Masquerade,” “Aida,” “Rigoletto,” “Macbeth,” “Othello,” “La Boheme,” “Madame Butterfly,” “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “The Barber of Seville,” “Faust” and “Werther.”
The performance will also involve Astana Opera soloists: Arthur Kaipkulov (Anelotti,) Sundet Baigozhin (Sacristan,) Beimbet Tanarykov (Spoletta,) Talgat Galeyev (Sharon,) Bolat Yessimkhanov (Jailer) and Aisha Orynbassarova (Shepherd.)
The “Tosca” premier took place on Jan. 14, 1900 in Rome at the Teatro Costanzi. Vibrant music and an exciting plot make it popular even today. The play takes place against a backdrop of historical events that illustrate the hard times of the year 1800, during which Napoleon’s army invaded Italy. Despite the trying times, the love between Tosca and her lover Cavaradossi grows.
The original performance of “La Scala” was impressive thanks to the inexhaustible imagination of Director Ronconi. The director focused the main emphasis on human passion, rather than on the story of lovers who by the will of fate were involved in political events and were the victims of despotism, torture, and execution.
The musical masterpiece written more than a century ago is today among the world’s top five operas. It excites viewers and leaves them interested in Puccini’s music.
