Theater of Opera and Ballet  named after  M. Jalil presented the premiere  “Syuyumbike”

September  27, 2018

Tatar Academic State Theater of Opera and Ballet  named after  M. Jalil   has released a  long-awaited premiere – the opera “Syuyumbike” to the music of Rezeda Akhiyarova, libretto written by Renat Haris.

Especially for the premiere on the first floor of the theater an exhibition was organized, dedicated to the last Kazan queen. The viewers of the opera saw Syuyumbike the way it was portrayed by the artists Baki Urmanche, St. Petersburg’s Lena Saitbagin and the N. Chelnyian   Viktoria Yegorova. So, for example, in the figure of Urmanche, made with black ink, the queen’s lips are tightly compressed, and her gaze is lowered. Almost every artist has captured exactly the tragic image of Syuyumbike, whose lot fell   so little love and serenity.

Almost all the seats in the hall were have been taken  by the third call. People’s Artist of Tatarstan Eduard Treskin addressed the first audience of the national opera with a salutatory word. He noted that this work closes the triad of works created by the composer specially ordered  by the theater. Opera “Poet’s Love” and the ballet “Golden Horde” have already entered the repertoire of the theater.

The opera takes place as if in the space of the upturned tower Syuyumbike, known to residents and guests of Kazan. Opera consists of three acts, each of which consists of  two pictures. As soon as the curtain opened, the audience was transferred to Kazan in 1551. In the hall there were heard quiet exclamations: “You see, what scenery.” The Moscow stage designer Viktor Gerasimenko worked on them. Then a massive metal grid with zilantas appears in the background, then a large-scale golden icon with the Holy Trinity, then a ladder leading to the sky. In combination with the light, they delighted the audience.

For some, it was amazing in the hall that the artists sang in Tatar, while the text in Russian was displayed on the running line. As Zhanna Melnikova, the director of the theater, told us, the opera was performed in two languages. The first act, which took place in Kazan, and the third act, whose action was unfolding in Kasimov, sounded in the Tatar language. In the second act, the Kazan queen and her son were taken to Moscow, so the artists sang in Russian.

The Syuyumbike party was performed by the soloist of the theater Gulnora Gatina. She managed to show the queen not a heroine of many legends, but an ordinary woman, who suffered many trials. Three marriages, the loss of  beloved and native Kazan, the execution of his beloved Koschak, a life far from the little son  Utyamysh. Syuyumbike often had to face a choice: to listen to reason or to the heart, but each time she took a strong-willed decision, not allowing herself to be a toy in the hands of others.

The spectator’s love has been   won by Arslan Sibgatullin in the role of son Syuyumbike, Khan Utyamysh. In Ivan the Terrible, the Golden Mask winner, Ahmet Agadi (Mariinsky Theater), reincarnated. His wife on stage, Queen Anastasia became Alexandrs  Saulskaya-Shulyatieva from the Moscow theater “New Opera”. Honored Artist of Tatarstan, Filyus Kagirov played Kasimov’s khan Shah-Ali, for whom he had to marry a Kazan beauty. The decoration of the second and third acts were the artists of the ballet and children’s choir Delizia.

A tragic outcome was inevitable – Syuyumbike could not stand the humiliation of Shah-Ali, the separation from Utyamysh and the life away from Kazan. Being on the verge of insanity, she seems to relive the departure to Moscow, the farewell to her son. Finally, the Lord heard the prayers of the last Kazan queen, and the Gate of Heaven opened before her. She goes up the stairs through the clouds and goes to heaven forever.

Literally after each act, the audience shouted “Bravo”, but with the closing of the curtain, the cries and applause became ear-splitting. The audience has  especially warmly received  Gulnora Gatina, Ahmed Agadi, Filyus Kagirov, Alexander Saulsky-Shulyatiev and Filyus Kagirov. The first attempt to talk about the life of the Kazan queen Syuyumbike in the form of an opera turned out to be successful, and the Theater of Opera and Ballet. M. Jalil, it seems, will continue to celebrate its success for a long time.

Earlier, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan can be proud of the opera “Syuyubike”. He visited the premiere together with  RT State Advisor Mintimer Shaimiev.

tatar-inform.ru