Astana Opera’s stage director wins second place at international competition

The Astana Opera just added another prestigious award to its collection. Theater director Yerenbak Toikenov won an honorable second place at the Nano-Opera international competition in Moscow. The young professional demonstrated to the jury not only his high level of expertise and honed skills, but also the competitiveness of Kazakhstan in the field of opera direction. The indisputable talent of the Kazakh participant was also noticed in other categories. He received the Audience Award and the award ‘For Creative Approach to the Art of Opera Direction.’ According to Toikenov, who has already returned to the capital, the competition consisted of three rounds. In the first round, the participants worked on the aria, in the second, on the duo, and in the final third round, on the mass scene. Toikenov presented opera interpretations of Giacomo Puccini's ‘Turandot’, Gioacchino Rossini’s ‘The Barber of Seville’ and Georges Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ to the attention of the jury.

“It's kind of a big test, a big exam. First, it is a stepping stone for the director, because after that he receives many new opportunities. I'm already getting new offers from other theaters, but I’m not talking about that yet. The most important thing in the competition was to choose the right words, because we had time limits. We were given 10 to 15 minutes for each round. That was the hardest part. As for the jury members, they are all very skilled stage and artistic directors. And all of them have the People's Artist title,” Toikenov said.

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

 Editing by Saule Mukhamejanova