It is the oldest theater in the country. It has taken its residence in this building in 1941 (architects N. Kruglov, N. Prostakov), although its repertoire life had begun earlier in 1934. The first musical performance was "Aiman-Sholpan" as per libretto of M.O. Auezov. The "Swan Lake" of P.I. Tchaikovsky marked the beginning of the ballet company in 1938. The fate of the building was not easy. Its construction started in 1936, and a year later the unfinished building burned. Newly rebuilt, it represents the birth of the original architecture of the "national style". Natalia Sats, the well-known Director of the theatre, noted that "people who built the theatre were familiar with Italian architecture, but fell in love with Eastern ornaments, and gave a surprisingly complex chord to the building". Its monumental forms and colonnaded portico attract people’s attention. Zhambyl with a group of people is in the center of the bas-relief. Those people represent the allegory of musical creativity and fertility. There are scenes of the Kazakh heroic epics and the scenes of the period of Civil war around. The artistic ornaments on the walls, ceilings, columns and interior were made in the national style. The scene of the theater keeps memories of such luminaries of the opera and ballet of Kazakhstan as Kuliash Baiseitova, Ermek Serkebayev, Rosa Dzhamanova, Ramazan Bapov. There are squares, monuments, busts of Mukhtar Auezov and Zhambyl Zhabayev along the both sides of the building. Cosy squares, beautiful fountains and monuments create a unique atmosphere and preserve the charm of the old center of Almaty.
