Mikhail Fokine’s
The Silver Age Ballets
Live stream
Scheherazade
(one-act choreographic drama to the music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
• Venue: Main Hall
• Running time: 1 hour
• Date and time: 26 September 2020 / Saturday / 6:00 pm
• Age limit: 10+
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Scenario by Mikhail Fokine
after the Arabian Nights fairytales
Choreography by Mikhail Fokine (1910). Reconstruction by Andris Liepa
Sets and costumes after original sketches by Léon Bakst
Choreographer Andris Liepa, People’s Artist of Russia
Assistant Choreographer Svetlana Romanova
Conductor Arman Urazgaliyev
Set Designer Anatoly Nezhny
Costume Designer Elena Netsvetaeva-Dolgaleva
Lighting Designer Vitaly Davydkin
Artistic Director of the Astana Opera Ballet Company – Altynai Asylmuratova, People’s Artist of Russia
The bored Sultan Shahryar is being entertained by odalisques and his beloved wife Zobeide. The Sultan’s younger brother Shakhezman is also here, he lost faith in women after his beloved wife betrayed him. He does not believe his brother’s wives either and offers his brother to test their loyalty. Both Sultans go hunting, while their wives touchingly bid farewell to them. Almost as soon as the Sultans are gone, the wives bribe the Chief Eunuch who opens the door of the harem. Black slaves burst in, and shameless depravity begins. Zobeide reigns here, having fun with her beloved Slave. In the midst of such “merrymaking”, the brothers return. Shakhezman triumphs, Shahryar is enraged and orders to execute everyone on the spot. Sultan’s servants kill the odalisques, eunuchs and black slaves. Sultana Zobeide, whom her spouse Shahryar believed more than himself, relies on her power over him and tries to appease him. The Sultan is unable to give the order to execute her. However, his cunning brother contemptuously points at Zobeide’s hacked to death lover. Shahryar gives a sign to the executioners, but his wife manages to grab a dagger from him and takes her own life. Shahryar cries over the dead body of his unfaithful, but beloved woman.
LEAD ROLES AND PERFORMERS
Shahryar: Zhanibek Imankulov
Zobeide: Anastasia Zaklinskaya
Shakhezman: Ildar Shakirzyanov
The Golden Slave: Bakhtiyar Adamzhan, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Chief Eunuch: Olzhas Makhanbetaliyev
BALLET DANCERS, SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF THE ASTANA OPERA HOUSE
