The President of Georgia attended the Opera “Daisi” by Zakaria Paliashvili, at the Kutaisi Opera Theater named after Meliton Balanchivadze. Mikheil Saakashvili promised the members of the troupe that he would attend the performance several days ago when he unexpectedly arrived at a rehearsal. The Kutaisi Opera Troupe presented the three act performance for the third time in the renovated hall. Before the performance, Mikheil Saakashvili made a comment and spoke about the importance of Kutaisi as the new Parliamentary capital and as a cultural center. According to the President, those who want to take the Parliament away from Kutaisi have an ironic attitude towards Kutaisi.

“Kutaisi is no longer the city people knew during the previous government. First of all, Kutaisi is a large cultural and educational center. This basically new theater is a symbol of the rise of Kutaisi. The fact that the opera written by a Kutaisian – Zakaria Paliashvili, was performed here for the first time is proof of this. Of course, this does not only concern Kutaisi. We are finishing construction of the Poti Theater this year. It has very interesting architecture and the Poti troupe will move there. I have already ordered Ramaz Nikolaishvili to restore the Ozurgeti Theater and the process will begin in a few days. We will also help the Ozurgeti Troupe to restore the important tradition. We are also helping the Akhaltsikhe Theater and well preparing it. I have inspected the new summer theater construction in Batumi today. It will be three times larger than the theater that Aslan Abashidze destroyed, and it will open in the summer. In short, we have a great theater tradition in Georgia. Everything just needs a little helping hand, restoration, and material assistance. The Kutaisi Opera Theater is not just an opera. We are now completely replacing the instruments of the orchestra and I ordered them to increase salaries. The Batumi Opera Troupe was practically created from scratch and they will have their first performance in August. Where have you heard of a country, of this small size, having this many opera troupes?  But we have several very good opera theaters. It is possible that Austria is the only country on a similar scale to that of Georgia on this matter. This also points to the fact that despite all of the problems, Georgia is having a period of advancement. Of course the people, who are sitting in this hall, have everyday problems and they have to fight for their existence every day, but culture is very important for everyone even during times of poverty. Georgians have it in our blood and we should not forget this” – stated Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Kutaisi Meliton Balanchivadze Opera and Ballet State Theater is in its 43^rd season.