«ALMAST» is an Armenian opera by Al. Spendiaryan. Libretto was written by Sophy Parnok based on «The Siege of the Tmouk Castle» by H. Tumanyan. Clavier was finished in 1923, orchestration of the opera was finished in 1928 (the IV act was arranged by M. Shteinburg). «Almast» is a psychological and philosophical music drama, which reflects heroic struggle for liberation of the Armenian nation. The first performance of the opera took place in Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow in 1930 (Almast-M. Maksakova).  The performance of the opera was given in the opening ceremony of Yerevan State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in 1933 (then it was re-staged in 1939, 1969, 1971 and in 1983). 

T. Shahnazaryan, T. Sazandaryan, M. Chmshkyan, G. Galachyan, O. Gabayan played the role of Almast. The opera was performed in Odessa (in Ukrainian, 1930), Tbilisi (in Georgian,1932), Tashkent (1953), Novosibirsk (1972) and in Paris (in this performance main roles of the opera were played by Russian and French singers, 1951). The clavier of the opera was published in Yerevan, in 1971.

Source - «Armenian Brief Encyclopedia», volume 1, chief editor, K. Khudaverdyan, Yerevan, 1990, p. 94 (in Armenian).

 

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