PREMIERE of the ballet by J. Verdi, P. Mascagni "The Lady with the Camellias", January 26 and 28

Choreographer: Mekhmet Balkan (Turkey)
Musical Director and Conductor: Honored Artist of Uzbekistan Fazliddin Yakubjanov
Artist: Honored Cultural Worker Zubaidullo Batyrov
Costume Designer: Lobar Palvanova
Choirmaster: Natalia Kupriyanova

The choreographer Mekhmet Balkan (Turkey) was invited to stage the ballet "Lady with Camellias", based on the novel by Alexander Dumas, to the music of G.Verdi and P.Mascagni.

Mekhmet Balkan (Ankara, 1956). At present he is the chief choreographer at the general director of the art adviser of the Main Directorate of State Opera and Ballet.

In 1965 he started his ballet education at the Ankara State Conservatory, where he studied classical ballet, piano and music on the basis of an English school. He worked with the famous Assaf Messerer and Alexander Prokofiev.

Mekhmet Balkan was accepted into the Ankara State Opera and Ballet at the age of 18 as a soloist in 1973, took part in the ballad "Spoiled Girl", staged by Sir Frederick Ashton in the first season of his work.
In 1973, he was invited to the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
In 1977, he was invited to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, to participate in the "Giselle".
In 1978, in the contest at the International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, which was attended by 151 dancers from 27 countries, Mekhmet Balkan took the third place.
In 1979-1980, he was invited to Germany by the director of the ballet of the Munich Opera Lynn Seymour, and began working as a soloist of the Munich Opera, where he signed a contract as a permanent guest-artist of the state ballet in Hanover.
In 1982 he was awarded the nomination "The most famous person in Germany".
From 1983 to 1984 he worked as a soloist in the Bonn State Opera and Ballet.
In 1984 he is the main dancer in the Belgian Royal Ballet.
In 1986, during his tour in the US, he played "Sakra" at Valeri Panov in the Metropolitan Opera and achieved great success.
Mekhmet Balkan began his career as a choreographer at the State Ballet of Germany in Hanover in 1989 (Hanover State Ballet Department.)
He received the "Best Choreography" award at the International Choreography Competition in Japan in 1994.
He has staged performances in Europe and the world's leading theaters in Satggart, Cologne, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Hamburg, Rome, Amsterdam, Zurich, Basel, Verona, London, Glasgow, Minneapolis, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Milan, Calgary and Budapest.
In 1999 Mekhmet Balkan was appointed as chief choreographer of the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Antalya, now his works are known all over the world.
In 2001, according to the Dance EUROPE, he entered the top five best ballet directors of the year.
In 2002, Mekhmet Balkan was director of the State Ballet of Portugal, and after a while he became the ballet director at the State Opera and Ballet Theater in Antalya.
Mekhmet Balkan, a jury member of the International Dance Competition in Istanbul, which takes place every two years, still puts a lot of work on the stage every year in different countries around the world.

In the repertoire of the choreographer there are such performances as:
“Swan Lake”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “The Nutcracker”, “Cinderella”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Giselle”, “The Wedding Party”, “Don Quixote”, “Coppelia”, “The Vain Precaution”, “Lady with the Camellias”, and many others.
 
January 10, 2018

10 января 2018