Verdi’s “A Masked Ball” to be staged

The Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater will once again delight guests and residents of Baku with the new operas of outstanding composers.

The new play will be staged within the framework of the 8th Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival that will open on September 18, Trend Life reported.

This time, the theatre will present Giuseppe Verdi's opera "A Masked Ball".

The storyline is about the assassination in 1792 of Swedish King Gustav III, who was killed as the result of a political conspiracy against him. He was shot while attending a masked ballroom dance and died 13 days later of his wounds.

The main roles will be performed by such honored national artists as Farid Aliyev, Ilaha Efendiyeva, Farida Mammadova, Inara Babayeva, Sabina Vahabzadeh, honored artist of Belarus Stanislav Trifonov, as well as soloists -Tural Agasiyev, Aliahmed Ibragimov and Talat Huseynov.

Music director and conductor of the play is the winner of the international conductors competitions Eyyub Guliyev, conductor,the honored art worker Sevil Hajiyeva, accompanist Nargiz Agayeva.

The play will surely attract a large audience and will be one of the most significant and bright events at the festival.

The ten-day festival is co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Since 1995, September 18, the birthday of legendary composer is celebrated as National Music Day in Azerbaijan. It was decided to hold the International Music Festival devoted to creativity of Azerbaijani composer.

Local and foreign musicians will perform Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s and other composers’ works at Baku Organ and Chamber Music Hall of the Muslim Magomayev Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Azerbaijan Composers' Union and Baku Music Academy.