The opening of 10th International theatre festival of Turkic people "Nauruz" will take place on 30 May on the square in front of G. Kamal Tatar State Academic Theatre. This was announced by the director of the opening ceremony, merited artist of RT Radik Bariev.
"This year we decided to hold a large scale performance and we thought that it should be done on the square. Of course, the organization of the ceremony in a building would be more convenient for us, but then only the guests of "Nauruz" could participate. And, after all, we are holding the festival for the people of our republic," - said Radik Bariev. In his words, people of Kazan will be waiting at the square already at 18:00 hours.
The official ceremony will start later - at 20 hours. Stepanida Borisova will be taking part in it - national artist of Russia, one of the best Yakut cateresses, and a prominent ethnic singer. She is a welcome guest of "root" music festivals, and that is the kind of music that will sound at "Nauruz". At the opening, for example, artists from Azerbaidzhan will be performing, who are experts in ancient art of mugama, Bashkir kurai players, Tuvan throat singers. The organizers of the festival are not afraid of bad weather. The public will be under the protection of the artists' energies. It has been told, for example, that Stepanida Borisova can "talk with" the powers of nature. One of her concerts took place in a location which suffered a long dry spell. As soon as the artist started singing, clouds showed up on the sky, and later a long-awaited rain came.
The opening ceremony of the anniversary festival "Nauruz" will culminate by a concert of national artist of Tatarstan, Merited artist of Russia and Bashkortostan, a favorite of the republic - Salavat Fatkhetdinov. He will sing for the audience for one hour.
"Our task does not consist of making money. We want to introduce the public to the art of our guests. The calling of "Nauruz" is to unite us," - remarked Ilfir Yakupov. He also explained that tickets for festival shows are already on sale. The prices range from 80 to 300 rubles.
Tickets for the guest-play of the festival - Chekhov's "Three sisters" - will cost more; this play is brought to Kazan by National artist of Russia, leader of Sankt-Peterburg Academic Small Dramatic theatre - Theatre of Europe, Lev Dodin. The play will be presented on the evening of 31 May in the Great Hall of Kamal theatre. "The arrival of a director with such a name, definitely elevates the status of our festival," - Niyaz Iglamov is confident. In his opinion, "Nauruz" should fulfill its chief task, which consists in uniting nations of Turkic language group.
"Nauruz could become a festival of world scale, - believes Shamil Zakirov. - It is a great venue for actors to meet, a place where they can share experiences." Organizers understand that many of the shows coming to the festival will be subjected to hard critique by experts, but all that is a part of the job, and one can even sometimes listen to the critique. It is especially important, considering that all the participants are connected by the same mentality and historical past.
"If this festival had not existed until now, it would be worth it to bring it to life precisely now, today, when questions of inter-ethnic existence in Russia and in the world are especially acute. "Nauruz" festival strengthens the harmony of peaceful coexistence of peoples, without disturbing the boundaries of natural cultural original Turkic nations,, and introducing theatrical processes of Turkic peole to an international festival level," believes Farid Bikchantayev. Remember that anniversary "Nauruz" will bring together about 550 guests and participants from nine regions of Russia (Sankt-Peterburg, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Khakassia, Altai, Dagestan, Tuva, Yakutia) and eight countries of the world - Turkey, Moldavia, Azerbaidzhan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Germany and Japan.
Artists will present 33 shows at the festival, which will, according to tradition, be judged by a Collegium of critics with doctor of art history, professor of RATI-GITIS, chairman of Shakespeare commission of RAN, Alexei Bartoshevich.