ASHGABAT (TCA) — Opera has returned to Turkmenistan after nearly 19 years of being banned along with ballet by the Central Asian country’s first post-Soviet president as “incompatible with Turkmen mentality,” RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reported.
Nineteenth-century Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci (Clowns) was performed on November 19 in a packed state-run theater in the capital, Ashgabat, as part of a cultural exchange program between Italy and Turkmenistan.
Only one Italian played a main role in the two-act opera that weaves a dramatic tale of love and betrayal.
Turkmen singers played the other major roles.
Baritone Amangeldi Amanov was one of them. The last …read more
Source:: The Times of Central Asia
