Opera and Ballet Theater gets ready for new season

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater is getting ready for a new season. The theater remained closed amid coronavirus pandemic. 

The Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers has recently made a decision to re-open cultural facilities, conference halls, cinemas and theaters in Azerbaijan with a total capacity of no more than 50 percent from October 1. 

In the next season, the State Opera and Ballet Theater will please the audience with many works, including the operas "Sevil", "The Cloth Peddler", "One Thousand and One Nights", "Leyli and Majnun", "Shah Ismail" and much more.

The theater will re-open its doors to Baku audience on October 9.

The State Opera and Ballet Theater has played a major role in shaping the Azerbaijani opera art.

"Leyli and Majnun" by Uzeyir Hajibeyli,  the first opera of the entire East, was first performed at the theater in 1908.

The opera laid the foundation of the new genre in musical culture of the world, which synthesizes oriental and European musical forms, resembling a dialogue of two musical cultures of East and West.

It was followed by multiple national operas such as "Sheikh Sanan" (1909), "Rustam and Zohrab" (1910), "Shah Abbas and Khurshid Banu" (1911), "Asli and Kerem"(1912), "Harun and Leyla" (1915), "Koroghlu " (1932). 

Today, the theater continues to delight its guests with fascinating ballets, operas, and other theatrical performances.

Recently, the theater has marked its 100th anniversary. The theater's chief director, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Hafiz Guliyev as well as the soloists - Honored Artist Ilaha Efendieva, Jahangir Gurbanov and Farid Aliyev provided insight into the country's opera art as part of "Bizi birl??dir?n m?d?niyy?t" (United by Culture) project.