Over the last two weeks I've gone to the ballet, a university strings performance, and seen the symphony! While maybe not activities most would associate with Kyrgyzstan, it's important to remember that the development of culture and the arts is an important part of the socioeconomic development of a country (at least in my opinion). The ballet was in the Kyrgyz Opera House, a rather impressive looking building surrounded by parks.
They were advertising two ballets, Swan Lake and Giselle, and my friend Rebekah and I opted for Swan Lake. It was a one night only performance in celebration of the anniversary of something... that part I was a little unclear on. We paid about $15 dollars for our tickets and showed up 30 minutes prior to the show. Figuring why not, we bought desserts from the concession stand and enjoyed our chocolates while watching the families and many young children fill in. We had a bit of difficulty finding our seats, as the number and sections system didn't make a lot of sense. The inside of the theater was very pretty, although it had signs of wear and tear visible.
While it looked very Russian over all (according to Rebekah who spent a year in Russia) it did have some neat little bits of Kyrgyz. The painted trim was the same curling geometric patterns as the rugs and weavings of Kyrgyzstan! The ballet started and I'll begin by saying I enjoyed it and would happily go back or recommend it to others. The quality of dancing was good, but not generally amazing. The female principal, who was ethnically Russian, was totally stunning and outshone the quality of nearly everyone else there.
Her point work was fabulous (I may not have been great, but I did do ballet long enough to evaluate others reasonably well). He male counterpart was so so. He was generally technically correct in movements, but he lacked good extensions or really just that flair of a soloist to me. The male lead performing the evil magician on the other hand was quite great! The core was sort of so so. My only real negative comment about the performance was actually the musicians, who sounded unprepared. There were many missed notes and some clearly flat solo performances.
The following week was that of music! Rebekah, Caroline, Altama, and her two German friends who were visiting went to a free concert put on at an art center to the south end of the city. It was a showcase of students studying the stringed instruments, which mostly university students, but a few younger. It was a delightful performance and I was very impressed with the quality of music from most of the soloists. There was also a diversity of performances, starting with all of the violin players together, than a small chamber orchestra, many soloists accompanied by a pianist, and finally the full symphony at the end. Likely because I played the cello, I was particularly impressed with one young Kyrgyz woman's cello solo. It was an incredibly difficult piece mostly in thumb position that she played beautifully with such clear tones.
Two days later Kyle, Rebekah and I attended the Kyrgyz National Symphony with a guest violin soloist from Moscow. This occurred at the Philharmonia building. It overlooks another lovely park an square, a true signature of Bishkek. The inside was lovely, with a row on oil painting of the Manas tellers (Manachy sp?). We had tickets in the 6th row with an excellent view. Again, the quality of the music was fantastic. The soloist was very good and the orchestra wonderful. I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the pieces played, but it was still very enjoyable. The one unfortunately “Bishkek thing” was that the spotlights made a horrid cracking noise as they turned on and off. The soloist had to ask that they not use the lights after the first piece was completed. At the end of the performance they thanked him with a traditional Kyrgyz coat and kalpak hat, and he looked most splendid!