A grand national premiere: the legendary Blood and Sweat trilogy comes to life on the ballet stage!
A Grand National Premiere: The Legendary Blood and Sweat Trilogy Comes to Life on the Ballet Stage!
General Sponsor of the production: Timur Kulibayev’s Halyk Charitable Foundation
Dear audiences, devoted admirers of theatrical art, and connoisseurs of national culture!
The Abay Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre is proud to announce one of the most anticipated events of the season. In September, the theatre will open its 93rd season with the grand premiere of the two-act ballet Akbala, based on Abdijamil Nurpeisov’s great epic novel Blood and Sweat. We are officially beginning the announcement of this premiere!
The Theatre Director, Ainur Kopbasarova, introduced the production’s choreographer to the company — Arshak Galumyan, a renowned soloist, choreographer, and Artistic Director of the Staatsballett Berlin.
“Faithfulness to conscience is the highest human value” — this profound philosophical idea lies at the heart of the new large-scale production, which seeks to translate a great literary legacy into the language of sensuous and expressive choreography.
The action of the ballet unfolds on the austere and majestic shores of the Aral Sea during the era of great historical upheavals at the beginning of the 20th century. At the centre of the dramatic conflict is a deeply complex psychological love triangle: Yelaman, Akbala, and Tanirbergen.
The image of Akbala, alongside such celebrated heroines of world literature as Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Mikhail Sholokhov’s Aksinya, embodies profound spiritual turmoil, the tragedy of choice, and inner strength. Through the prism of the characters’ personal drama, the work reveals the character, resilience, and authentic national spirit of an entire people.
Abdijamil Karimovich Nurpeisov was an outstanding writer, a classic of Kazakh literature, Hero of Labour of Kazakhstan, People’s Writer of the Kazakh SSR, and laureate of the USSR State Prize. His novel Blood and Sweat, for which the author was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1974, became a hallmark of Kazakh literature around the world. Today, our theatre presents a new, contemporary interpretation of this priceless heritage.
The principal roles and ensemble scenes will feature leading soloists and artists of the ballet company of the Abay Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre, whose artistry and emotional intensity will allow audiences to experience this story in a single breath.
The project seeks to offer a new reflection on the enduring spiritual values of our people and to present to the world a powerful and distinctive national image through the language of high ballet art.
Production Team:
Librettist: Shynar Omarova
Stage Director and Choreographer: Arshak Galumyan, Germany
Conductor: Nurzhan Baibusinov, Honoured Worker of Kazakhstan
Assistant Choreographer: Thomas Klein
Composer: Aruzhan Oktyabr
Set Designer: Eleonora Peronetti
Lighting Designer: Tatyana Mishina
Costume Designer: Aziza Saimova