THE PICCOLO THEATRE
Gaetano Donizetti
Don Pasquale
Drama buffa in 2 acts
Performed in Italian
(with Kazakh and Russian subtitles)
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes (including one interval)
Please note that the age limit is 10+
Management reserves the right to substitute artists
Libretto by G. Ruffini based on A. Anelli’s Ser Marcantonio
ARTISTIC AND PRODUCTION TEAM:
Music Director and Conductor: Abzal Mukhitdin, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Conductor – Ruslan Baymurzin
Artistic Director of the Production: Ala Simonishvili
Scenographer and Costume Designer: Manana Gunia
Director: Yerenbak Toikenov
Chief Choirmaster: Yerzhan Dautov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Lighting Designer: Sergey Kulak
Project Technical Director: Viсtor Carare
Opera Company Director: Meir Bainesh, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Today, the Drama buffa Don Pasquale, characterized by inexhaustible wit, vivacity and soft lyricism, is among the twenty most popular Italian operas and is performed annually in more than 150 theatres in the world.
There are legends of the speed of writing Don Pasquale. Various sources state terms from 11 days to two to three weeks. Even for Donizetti, who created 74 operas in just 27 years, this is very fast. Certainly, the composer worked with exceptional inspiration.
The storyline, in the centre of which is an old man in love, was well known to the contemporaries of Donizetti due to many literary works, as well as theatrical performances (both classic comedies and opera buffa), which started to appear on theatre stages from the 16th century.
To dissuade the old man from getting married, friends arrange a fictitious marriage with a woman who turns from a modest “pupil of the monastery” into a vixen and drives her husband mad. This situation happens at all times.
There is everything in Don Pasquale: love, pretence, cruel hoax, witty antics, comic situations with changing of clothes, disillusion and revelation ... And – most importantly – this is a real musical masterpiece by Gaetano Donizetti!
In a word, the audience can expect a wonderful performance!
LEAD ROLES AND PERFORMERS:
Norina – Assem SEMBINA
Ernesto – Alikhan ZEINOLLA
Malatesta – Sultan BAKYTZHAN
Don Pasquale – Yerzhan SAIPOV
Carlito – Ramzat BALAKISHIYEV
THE ASTANA OPERA SOLOISTS, ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND EXTRAS
