Astana's 14th anniversary celebrated nationwide

Astana's 14th birthday has been highly anticipated not only by residents of the city but every citizen of Kazakhstan, as the event schedule promised a lot of amazing surprises and discoveries, the Kazakh MFA's press service reports.

The celebration traditionally started with the opening of the III Astana International Action Film Festival on July 1, organized by the famous Kazakhstan-born filmmaker, Timur Bekmambetov. This year a Cesar Award-winning French actor Vincent Cassel, an English actor Dominic Cooper, an American film and television producer Jim Lemley and other prominent figures in the film industry were among the festival invitees. A total of 20 full length feature films by directors from all over the world, a number of round table discussions, as well as press conferences by movies stars were held throughout the festival workdays.

The 7th international festival "Operalia 2012" was held on July 1 and 3 in the capital city. The event included performances by world ballet and opera stars. On the first day, performers form China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Britain and the United States showed the art of ballet through excerpts from acclaimed compositions such as the Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Swan Lake, and other, as well as through modern ballet. On July 3, world opera stars Giuseppe Varano and Silvia Dalla Benetta gave a concert, which seized the hearts of the audience.

One of the most widely anticipated events is a performance of the world famous Cirque du Soleil troupe that will take place from 4 to 6 July at the Sports Palace "Kazakhstan".

Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier. The entrance to the show will be by invitations only, which had been distributed among orphans, children from lower-income families, the disabled kids, war and labour veterans, as well as best students and winners of national and international Olympiads.

The circus arts will be performed from 1 to 8 July, as the new season of the International Circus Festival "Echoes of Asia" kicks off in Astana. The winners and laureates of the world's festivals will take part in the festival. Among them will be the past masters, representatives of circus dynasty: the tightrope walkers and gutta-percha girl from Mongolia and China, along with trapeze artists from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Performance of the most contemporary of all the classical singers of the world Sumi Jo on July 5 is another big present for Astana citizens and capital visitors dedicated to Astana's anniversary. It's not the performer's first time in Astana. She took part in the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games.

A nomadic civilization festival, called ""Astana through the millennium," will be organized for the 5th time this year in the square in front of the Khan Shatyr city mall in Astana. The grand opening of the nomadic civilization festival took place on June 29, while the festival itself is scheduled for July 4-7. The guests will be able to visit a makeshift nomadic city and view gunsmiths, weavers, hunters and jewellers in the streets.

Therewith, international equestrian competitions for the World Cup and the Kazakh President's Cup are to be held at "Kazanat" racetrack. Riders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and India will participate in the competitions.

An unforgettable ice show of Ilia Averbukh from Russia, as well as the benefit performance of the Russian actor Sergei Makovetsky, and the first International Festival of the Club of Cheerful and Witty are also planned to take place in Astana.

Other events include a festival of contemporary street art called ArtBatFest. Classical music and ballet nights will be held on the bank of the Yesil River on July 5-7.

The celebration of the Capital Day will include 59 events in four days in total. Only 15 of them require buying tickets.

According to the Mayor of Astana, Imangali Tasmagambetov, all the money collected from the ticket sales will go to the charity specially organized every year during the festival to help children in need of medical care.

The celebration of Kazakh capital's 14th anniversary will be traditionally completed with a gala concert with the participation of such popular groups and headline performers from Kazakhstan and abroad as "Metiss", "Orda", "Serebro", Yerbolat, Makpal Issabekova, Nyusha, Timati, GeeGun, Ivan Dorn, Dan Balan, and Kelly Rowland.