Around 10000 fortunate people were witnesses of José Carreras’ concert with the orchestra of the Sofia Opera and Ballet on 11 May in the Armeec Hall which continued three hours.

Not by chance the opera legend José Carreras chose as his partner the orchestra of the Sofia Opera and Ballet – an orchestra which has a rich history not only with the greatest Bulgarian conductors, but also under the baton of many world-known conductors, in grandiose productions in big halls and in the open air.

The orchestra has taken part in historical spectacles and concerts with great opera singers like Mirella Freni and Nicolai Ghiaurov, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova, Nicola Ghiuselev, Krassimira Stoyanova and others. We should recall the brilliant appearances with Placido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé, Elena Obraztsova, Agnes Baltsa, Joan Pons and other star artists.

The orchestra of the Sofia Opera and Ballet was preferred also because of one exceptional concert with Placido Domingo in the huge square in the holy city – Santiago de Compostela, when the world was welcoming the new millennium in this spiritual place.

José Carreras chose the orchestra of the Sofia Opera and Ballet in this farewell of his with the Bulgarian audience, because he was convinced that only with it he will be able to share his emotion with the audience of thousands. He and his team rehearsed four days at the Opera. In the benefice took part also Rosen Nenchev, soloist of our first theatre. The young singer is known to José Carreras. He was among the participants in Carreras’ second and third master classes (2017 and 2018) in Pesaro, Italy.

While rehearsing at the theatre, the great Spanish singer accepted the invitation of the Opera’s Director – Academician Prof. Plamen Kartaloff, to make a master class in our leading opera theatre the next season.

After the master classes led by the world opera primas – Raina Kabaivanska, Krassimira Stoyanova and Anna Tomowa-Sintow, José Carreras will be the next celebrity who will support the young talents to realize their dream of a career on the opera stage.

The Opera gives a chance to debuting opera singers and opens its doors for their growth on the stage. Our first opera theatre’s management presented their youngest soloists at a Christmas concert in 2017. These were Angel Antonov, Emil Pavlov, Kalin Dushkov, Rosen Nenchev, Valentin Vatev, Nikolay Voynov, Stefan Dimitrov. All of them were participants in the master class of the great Bulgarian singer Krassimira Stoyanova at Apolonia 2017. The youngest soloists sang at the premiere of “Yana’s Nine Brothers” by Lyubomir Pipkov at the Sofia Opera.