Astana Opera’s young stage director wins International Competition award

Yerenbak Toikenov’s indisputable talent was also recognized in other nominations of this prestigious competition. From the media jury – the heads of the largest publications – the stage director received 2 special prizes, one of which was «For a Creative Approach to the Art of Opera Directing». Moreover, our compatriot got the most valuable prize – the Audience Choice Award, the Astana Opera’s Press Office reports.

In the near future, Yerenbak Toikenov will take part in the final of the Digital Opera festival. Like other winners of the competition, he received his invitation from the festival’s general director and producer Nadezhda Abramova.

A welcoming speech by the Minister of the Government of Moscow, the head of the Department of Culture of the City of Moscow, Alexander Kibovsky, opened the award ceremony. 10 contestants were selected out of more than 200 participants, but the coveted prizes were awarded to three winners: the first place went to Maria Fomicheva (Russia, Moscow), the second – to Yerenbak Toikenov (Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan), the third – to Irina Gaudasinskaya (Russia, St. Petersburg).

«As for the participants, all of them are highly qualified stage directors working at various opera houses. I hope that in the future their work will be fruitful, and high art will flourish,» said Yerenbak Toikenov.

It is worth emphasizing that this competition has become a real test for young stage directors, because creativity is an innermost part of their work. This time it was born in front of the live audience and aired on the Russia-K TV channel, which placed a tremendous difficulty on many contestants.

The competition consisted of three rounds: in the first, the participants worked on an aria, in the second, on a duet, and in the third, on a mass scene. In order to pass the qualifying round, Yerenbak Toikenov offered the jury his original presentation of Puccini’s Turandot. In the first round, according to the results of the draw, he was to present Figaro’s cavatina from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, in the second – Don José and Escamillo’s duet from Bizet’s Carmen, in the third – the Chorus and Sextet from the outstanding French composer’s masterpiece. The contestants did not have the opportunity to prepare and had to bring their findings to life in 10 minutes in real time.

The final chord of the competition was the gala concert held in the Stravinsky Hall. The program featured the young stage directors’ brightest works.

As a reminder, the jury of the «Nano-Opera» competition in the anniversary year included: chairman – an outstanding contemporary stage director Dmitry Bertman, artistic directors, general directors and stage directors of leading international opera houses, well-known theatrical managers and producers. In addition to the main jury, the competition also had a media jury – leading members of the popular mass media who awarded their own prizes.

Yerenbak Toikenov has already arrived in Kazakhstan and was greeted at the airport by friends, relatives and fans, who followed the stage director’s progress live. The colleagues who came to meet him emphasized that Yerenbak became the first Kazakhstani to confirm the competitiveness of Kazakhstan in the field of opera directing at the international level.