Opera and Ballet Theater Loud Scandal: Young Talents Blocked from the Stage

Uzeyir Hajibeyov's immortal work "Leyli and Majnun," presented as part of the "Opera Days" project at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, has caused heated discussions on social networks.

As reported by BAKU.WS, the main cause of discontent was that the roles of Leyli and Majnun are not entrusted to young performers. Despite the presence of dozens of talented young mugham performers who graduated from the school of People's Artists Nazaket Teymurova and Mansum Ibrahimov, these two masters are once again performing on the Opera and Ballet Theater stage, which has caused disagreements on social platforms.

According to critics, the honored artists are unwilling to entrust the love story of Leyli and Majnun to the vocal cords of young performers. Recently, public discontent was caused by an incident with singer Kamila Nabiyeva, who rehearsed the role of Leyli for three months, but in the end, her name was removed from the posters without explanation.

Honored Artist Nigar Shabanova stated in one of her interviews that in order to play Leyli on this stage, one needs to "reach into their pocket." People's Artists Nazaket Teymurova and Mansum Ibrahimov also commented on the situation.

Nazaket Teymurova said:

"We have enough performers for Leyli and Majnun. I don't want to talk about this. I work in this theater and perform the roles that are given to me."

Mansum Ibrahimov noted:

"Once a year, at the request of the audience, I perform the role of Majnun. Today there are enough performers there. Many of them I brought in myself."

More details in the Baku TV report.