Classic ballet fans await with great eagerness the premiere performances of the “Romeo and Juliet” ballet by Sergei Prokofiev at the Sofia Opera and Ballet on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of November, 2024.
In Marta Petkova’s words (prima ballerina, creative director of the Sofia Opera ballet troupe and performing the main role of Juliet), this will be “a completely new spectacle which will come to life on stage through brand new choreography, scenography and costumes”. “The entire performance is directed with a new and slightly contemporary approach”, she said during a press conference regarding the premiere.
“Ever since I was accepted into ballet school, I’ve always dreamt of one day playing the role of Juliet, all the more because I have the opportunity to watch our national ballet perform daily”, Marta Petkova admitted, happy that Kaloyan Boyadzhiev is in charge of choreography. Working with this “very successful and exceptional Bulgarian”, as she called him, was a different experience because of the calmness with which he tutored the ensemble. Ballet artists are used to working under pressure but with Boyadzhiev they performed calmly and enjoyed it, with a smile on their face.
Marta Petkova underlined that the artists portraying the main roles in “Romeo and Juliet” have “matured enough” for them. “You truly need real artists for this exceptionally dramatic love story, not just technique.”
Kaloyan Boyadzhiev thanked Plamen Kartaloff, director of the Sofia Opera and Ballet, and Marta Petkova for having trusted him with setting “Romeo and Juliet” on the Bulgarian stage. He also expressed his thanks to all his “wonderful” colleagues, all décor artists and the Sofia Opera orchestra for the support, the high level of professionalism and the enthusiasm they all showed while working on this “big production”.
“I’m recreating this famous story the way I felt it as an artist while performing it as well as a person who has lived through similar traumas”, Kaloyan Boyadzhiev said.
All performers were prepared for the battle scenes by Kamen Ivanov: martial arts specialist from NATFIZ “Krastyo Sarafov”.
Scenographer Even Borsum and costume designer Ingrid Nylander both expressed their great joy of being a part of the Sofia Opera and Ballet family.
The performance’s scenography will convey a feeling of realism enhanced by a rotating main décor which will introduce the following scene with each rotation it makes.
The costumes will recreate the characters’ inner world through the use of appropriate colors, with darker colors prevailing.
Andrei Galanov, one of the conductors working on “Romeo and Juliet” said that Prokofiev’s score was once performed by troubadours.
“This ballet had a harsh fate when it first premiered”, Igor Bogdanov, the other conductor, shared. The world premiere of “Romeo and Juliet” in Brno, the Czech Republic, in 1938, wasn’t accepted well. The screenwriters even thought of a happy ending in which Romeo and Juliet don’t die. It was only during 1940 at the then called Kirov (now Mariinsky) theater in Leningrad that “Romeo and Juliet” was set with a huge success. Igor Bogdanov defined Prokofiev’s score as “an incredible musical dramaturgy from beginning to end, a complex and hard to perform masterpiece”.
The most famous love story in the world will come to life on the stage of the Sofia Opera and Ballet and awaits its new fans!
https://epochtimes.bg/nov-prochit-na-baleta-romeo-i-zhulieta-predstavja-sofijskata-opera-i-balet/