Petar Galev

With the opera-oratorio "The Saints Cyril and Methodius" by Jivka Klinkova the Sofia Opera and Ballet paid spiritual homage to the founders of the native script on the eve of 24 May. The premiere was last year, when for the first time the audience in the country saw and heard the musical and stage work, which was handed out a diploma by Pope John-Paul II.

The one-act work has found an interesting and exciting interpretation under the direction of Vera Petrova and with the help of contemporary multimedia scenography. Certainly, the orchestra of our first opera theatre under the conductorship of Zhorzh Dimitrov, as well as the participating soloists, among whom stood out Biser Georgiev and Atanas Mladenov, seriously contributed to the success. The vocal parts in the oratorio based on the poems by Venko Markovski require serious mastery and stability, which the two baritones in the roles of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius undoubtedly showed. Also noteworthy was the performance of the chorus, which managed to convey a bravura sense of joy and pride in the work of the Slavic Enlighteners. In less than two hours the audience was transported through all their senses to the epoch that established Christian civilization in the Slavic world. Music, text, costumes, scenography tell the exciting story of the work of the Saints Cyril and Methodius with an emphasis on the spiritual essence of the events and Bulgaria's role in them.

Our National Opera once again confirmed its role not just as a theatre of the highest category, but as an institution creating, preserving and maintaining high Bulgarian culture in very difficult times.

Only in May, two native titles were released on the big stage, recreated on a large scale and fully. Along with the opera-oratorio, we also saw “Yana's Nine Brothers”. And this against the background of maintaining a huge repertoire of classical opera and ballet titles, the likes of which are very rarely present simultaneously in the poster of even the world's greatest operas.

A separate and very serious focus are the performances for children of different age groups. The team of the Sofia Opera and Ballet proves every day that there is an institution in our country offering world-class quality of its production. The audience certainly knows this and in the halls of the capital's 1, Vrabcha Street you can hear English, German, Greek, French, Japanese and whatever else speech. Attend a performance and see for yourself what a treasure we have.

http://www.jivotatdnes.bg/nachalo/news/aktsenti/operata-ni-razvalnuva-s-oratoriya-za-kiril-i-metodiy