The Opera House and the Folk Ensemble dedicate 2 gala evenings to composer Tish Daija and ballet master Panajot Kanaçi. The two students of the choreographer remember his scenic moments and messages, while Venera Lumani confesses her emotions as a young artist as regards the stage and the work of Daia.
Tish Daija and Panajot Kanaçi, the two masters who stamped “Halili and Hajrien”, as the first Albanian ballet work, are commemorated by the Opera Theater and the Ensemble of Folk Songs and Dances. Selected pieces of their work will be staged in two gala evenings, on February 8th and 9th at 7pm. The famous dancer Liljana Cingu, a talent discovered by the choreographer Kanaçi, at the same time her pedagogue shows how the ballet master comes to her memory.

“Panajot Kanaçi is a legend of Albanian ballet… When he performed the dance in the hall, our eyes were watering, because he did it so beautifully and I used to say to him: Professor I cannot do it as beautifully as you. And he would say to me, “No, my maid, because your hair is dancing. “I am grateful that he made me who I am today”, says Cingu.

Kanaç’s successor on stage, dancer Genc Kastrati, shows the responsibility to bring back these motives, now that the Youth Ensemble has been renovated.

“Our biggest responsibility is that we do not transform the motives, and that is the essence. “Because the popular motives that have been elaborated by maestro Kanaçi must be kept in the same form”, says Kastrati, a student of ballet maestro Kanaçi.

While “The composer who ignited the flames in the snow” Tish Daija is remembered not only as a composer of operas and ballets, but also for symphonies, folk and light songs and instrumental and vocal works. Folk, according to conductor Deniola Kuraja, is the unifying magic of the 2 colossi, and this is best reflected in “Halili and Hajria”.

“What is worth mentioning about Halili and Hajria carries a value for the fact that both the composer and the choreographer have combined folklore elements with professional musical elements”, says Kuraja, conductor and at the same time artistic director at Opera House.

While Venera Lumani, invited to the gala evening of February 9 together with Kamela Islamaj and Aleksandër Gjoka, tells the experiences as a young artist for the Opera stage, but also the music of tradition.

“It is a great pleasure to return and sing on the big stage of the Opera and Ballet Theater. You can sing everywhere, but coming back here has a special feeling. It is just as special to return to beautiful songs, the pearls of Albanian light music,” says Lumani.

/Klara Ruci/