Valery Gergiev to open a new opera house in Kazakhstan

21 October will see the start of four-day-long celebrations marking the opening of the new opera house in Astana, which promises to be an important cultural event not just for Kazakhstan but for the world of opera in general. Over four days the Astana Opera will host performances by international stars. Managers from the world’s great theatres – including La Scala, the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera and the Opéra National de Lyon – as well as from the international opera house unions OPERA America and Opera Europa and representatives of the theatre world from fifteen countries across the globe will witness this historic event.

At the inauguration on the first evening there will be a performance of Attila by Giuseppe Verdi, the anniversary of whose birth has been widely celebrated this year. The production by stage director Pier Luigi Pizzi will be conducted by Valery Gergiev. The title role will be performed by famed Mariinsky Theatre bass Ildar Abdrazakov, who has already won great international acclaim as Attila. The role of the Odabella, the fearless Roman, will be sung by lead Mariinsky Opera soloist Anna Markarova.