By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The Azerbaijani State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater has been invited to the 12th International Christmas Opera Forum to stage Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, Azernews reports.

The Belarusian Grand Theater and Moscow's Helikon Opera were also engaged in the opera staging at Belarusian Bolshoi Theater.

The major opera houses performed under the baton of the musical director of the Azerbaijani State Opera and Ballet Theater, Honored Artist Ayyub Guliyev.

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.

The opera's best-known aria is Nessun dorma (Let no one sleep), which became globally popular in the 1990s following Luciano Pavarotti's performance of it for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Soloist of Helikon Opera Ivan Kingazov (tenor), laureate of international competitions, soloists of the Belarusian Bolshoi Theater Anastasia Malevich (dramatic soprano), People's Artists of Belarus Anastasia Moskvina, Vladimir Gromov, Vasiliy Kovalchuk (Timur) and many others amazed everyone without exception.

General Director of the Belarusian Bolshoi Theater Yekaterina Dulova, theater's artistic director, People's Artist of the USSR Valentin Yelizaryev, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Belarus Ulvi Bakhshaliyev, international music critics watched Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece with great pleasure.

In conclusion, Ayyub Guliyev and opera artists received special diplomas within the 12th International Christmas Opera Forum.