ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXPECTATION

The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Baku hosted the premiere of the ballet Goya composed by the Garayevs, father and son, and dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the prominent Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev. The show has attracted great public interest.

Considering the significance of the event, the administration of the theatre invited prominent international men of culture and art for the production of the ballet including the choreographer, the Honoured Artist of Estonia, Art Director of the St. Petersburg ballet festival Dance Open, a member of the International Dance Council of UNESCO, President of the Marius Petipa International Heritage Fund Vasily Medvedev. His choreographic productions have been successfully staged at the best opera houses in the world. Art Director was academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, professor, member of the Union of Artists of Russia Dmitry Cherbaji. The author of the libretto was the famous writer Jana Temiz (Turkey), the choirmaster was the Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan Sevil Hajiyeva. The Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan, laureate of international competitions of conductors Eyyub Guliyev conducted the premiere show.

The leading ballet dancers, the honoured artists of Azerbaijan Nigar Ibrahimova, Makar Verstandt, Anar Mikailov, Jamil Kerimov and Ayan Eyvazova also took part in this spectacular performance.

Goya

The protagonist of the new ballet, the Spanish artist Francisco Goya was a controversial figure, a man with a difficult fate, character and a huge talent. His life and works have often become motives for art, novels, films, and music about him.

Being a court painter, Goya made portraits of the royal family. But his acquaintance with the proud beauty, the Duchess of Alba, turned his life and creativity. Now he draws his beloved without stopping. The Clothed Maja, the Naked Maja later became a common property, but causes fierce jealousy of the queen, who is in love with the artist. He also draws the queen’s portrait, but it's not like that. In 1808, the Spanish Inquisition discovered the Naked Maja along with other pictures of “questionable content”. The paintings were called “extremely indecent and a threat to the public interest.” Goya was charged with immorality, but escaped punishment, since the influence of the Inquisition at the beginning of the 19^th century was significantly weakened and it could only point to “dangerous” forms of expression in art, unable to completely prohibit them. After living a hard life, having lost his wife and child, and also his beloved woman under mysterious circumstances, Goya his life half-blind and devastated. The libretto of the famous Turkish writer Jana Temiz tells about the last days of the life of a brilliant artist, when he is alone and recalls his youth and terrible pages of the past.

Before the premiere, we visited one of the rehearsals and had a short conversation with the leading actors of the ballet.

Anar Mikailov playing the role of Goya said that this was not his first acquaintance with the music of Gara Garayev. It was not also his first main role, as Anar has played many roles on the stage since 2005.

“I had roles in the Nutcracker, Scheherazade, 1001 Nights, the Maiden Tower, as well as in many other productions. Goya is interesting to me not only as a technically challenging role, but also as a psychological image. The contradictory, complex character of a brilliant person is difficult to show in dance. I had to rediscover his nature in two solo monologues and two adagios. Also, I had two completely different partners - a power-hungry queen with a tough character and a tenderly loving, but unpredictable Duchess Cayetana Alba. They are rivals and fight for my heart and soul. My mother, the actress of the Yugh Theatre, the Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan, owner of the Golden Dervish Award, Sona Mikailova, has helped me to reveal the nature of the genius. Maybe the character of Goya will be my best role.”

Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan Makar Verstandt:

“The role of the Inquisitor is not easy. He is one of the important figures that not only is present in the life of Francisco Goya, but also prevents him from living. In the play, he is the symbol of evil. He is the complete opposite of Goya. I like this role, because it represents a person of unusual and extraordinary character. It is the first time I come across a character of this kind.”

Jamila Kerimova:

“At the first glance, it seems that my role as a soloist of the umbrella dance is quite insignificant. In fact, it is a symbolic one. After all, the acquaintance of the two main characters, Goya and the Duchess of Alba, takes place during a folk festival in Madrid. This is a bright, choreographically saturated party, virtuosic and colourful. Also, on the background of this festive dance, Goya’s famous painting Umbrella is emerging. This is a beautiful dance under the wonderful music of Gara Garayev.”

 Ayan Eyvazova:

“In this ballet I perform the role of the Queen with a cruel temper. Before this role, I used to create lyrical characters in Don Quixote, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Love and Death. But here I am fighting for my love with my rival, the young beauty the Duchess of Alba. In partnership with Anar Mikailov, I have already performed the adagio from The Seven Beauties.

Art director of the ballet troupe, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Kamila Huseynova told us about the preparations for the premiere.

“The Azerbaijani ballet dancers are not the first to work under the guidance of the famous choreographer-director, Honoured Artist of Estonia Vasily Medvedev, whose productions have been successfully staged in the best opera venues of the world. He has already staged the ballet The Seven Beauties by Gara Garayev at our theatre. The artists of our troupe have welcomed his arrival. I conducted rehearsals with the actors and I would say that both the performance and music have deep philosophical content. I think that when such a team of outstanding creative people is selected that work with great dedication, the premiere is doomed to success. Beautiful scenery and colourful costumes make the ballet very spectacular. The production even used one of the famous paintings of the great Goya the Clothed Maja.”

As you know, Gara Garayev did not compose Goya as a ballet, rather he composed a symphony titled Goya for the symphony orchestra and the boys' choir, which he dedicated to the wonderful conductor Rauf Abdullayev. In the ballet, we used the fragments of the second part of the First Symphony, as well as the fragments of the second and third parts of the Third Symphony. Besides, the audience will listen to the excerpts from Garayev’s Concerto for violin and orchestra. The invited violinist, actor of the Gara Garayev State Chamber Orchestra, Rovshan Amratov, performs the solo part on violin. Since there is no boys' choir in the theatre, we use a female choir. Of course, there are difficult moments in music, but the orchestra rehearsed every day and the leading ballet dancers worked with pleasure. The choreographer Vasily Medvedev himself composed the music.”

The main character of the play, in addition to Goya, is the Duchess of Alba. It is performed by the Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan, prima ballerina Nigar Ibrahimova:

“Alba is richer, prettier and younger than the queen. She seems to outshine her fame, who get extremely angry with her. A self-willed, proud beauty with a complex character, around which the entire court life revolves. She is the only love of the whole life of Goya. I open my performance in adagio and two outlets. She could walk in the streets of Madrid without her veil, which was considered an extremely improper attitude for the Spanish nobility. Despite the philosophical nature and original choreographic language of the play, I feel comfortable, and I really like Alba. I love her for courage, boldness and self-will. For me, this is a completely new person, a new image... “

So, a grandiose premiere took place with great success. The regulars of the cultural life of Baku have satisfied their expectations. The anticipation and prediction of Kamilla Huseynova also came true successfully. We will just add that the performance was favourably decorated with monumental, spectacular scenery and costumes. The piercing music of Gara Garaev and Faraj Garaev, director's amazing findings, performance of the soloists, magnificent skills of the orchestra and conductor aroused admiration from the audience. Undoubtedly, the premiere of Goya has become one of the most striking and important events in the course of the celebrations dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of Gara Garayev.