On May 26-27, the soloists of the Astana Opera Choir are set to perform in Poland giving a spectacle at the Hajnowka International Festival of Orthodox Church Music in Bialystok and a recital of Kazakh composers’ music in Warsaw, QazMonitor reports.
The Hajnowka Festival, held annually since 1982, has seen participation from 944 choirs from 44 countries across the world, promoting cultural diversity, respect, and tolerance among the East and West. The festival's jury has included famous Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as Russian choirmasters Igor Raevsky and Boris Tevlin.
The Astana Opera Choir is no stranger to the festival, having performed there in 2006 and 2011 and won the Grand Prix and first place, respectively. During those performances, the audience and festival organizers praised the choir's a cappella renditions of works by Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Yerzhan Dautov, the artistic director and chief choirmaster, said that this year the team is preparing a serious program, including works by Modest Mussorgsky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Apostol Nikolaev-Strumski, and Anatoliy Molodov.
We plan to not only demonstrate our performance level but also showcase our command of a wide variety of styles, in addition to opera music. We want to show that our team is versatile and has no limits or restraints in our creative work. We aim to present our recital to European audiences [in Warsaw], featuring the most beloved and recognizable Kazakh music works, such as Gaziza Zhubanova’s Zhalghyz Yemen, Yerkegali Rakhmadiyev’s Choral, Serikzhan Abdinurov’s Kui, and Alibi Abdinurov’s Quyrmash.
