On September 23, the Heydar Aliyev Center hosted the opening of the III Festival of Poetry, Art and Spirituality – Nasimi, organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry of Culture in partnership with ISESCO. The event began with an international forum on the theme “In Search of Eternal Truth”, which was attended by scientists from Azerbaijan, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Canada, Kazakhstan, Oman, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Northern Cyprus, Tajikistan and Turkey.
Let us recall that the Nasimi festival has been held since 2018, and since that year, the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture — ISESCO — has been its partner.
And now about how the premiere of an unusual performance by the Pantomime Theater took place within the festival. Unusual, because the iconic Azerbaijani work – “Iblis” by Huseyn Javid – has never been staged like this before.
The fact that the Pantomime Theater’s director Bakhtiyar Khanyzade dared to transform the play, which was first staged 105 years ago by the legendary Abbas Mirza Sharifzade, was undoubtedly bold. Especially since “Iblis” was Javid’s first work staged on stage. And when it is first staged by a person who has been leading the same theater for over 30 years – this is doubly bold.
Because when you have been sitting in the same place for three decades, you usually no longer want to prove anything to anyone. A bright example among those currently living is Alexander Sharovsky, who has simply been standing still for exactly half of those three decades at the Russian Drama Theater.
But Khanyzade took a risk. He risked doing so in the presence of numerous film and theater directors, actresses and actors, journalists and theater critics, the Minister of Culture and the President’s assistant. In the end, he risked combining symphonic art and pantomime art, his actors with a foreign symphonic orchestra – the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mustafa Mehmandarov, who that evening also revealed excellent artistic abilities. By the way, the artistry of the lead role performer (Arif) – Nurlan Rustamov – was off the charts! He managed to convey the director’s vision of Arif without a single word, without prose or poetry, becoming the link between Khanyzade and the audience.
