On 14 April at 19:00 h and on 17 April at16:00 h Sofia Opera and Ballet presents the ballets "Paquita" and "Carmen Suite". In the main roles, the audience will see: Marta Petkova and Nikola Hadjitanev in "Carmen Suite" and Boryana Petrova and Tsetso Ivanov in "Paquita". Conductor – Andrei Galanov. "Paquita" is performed with variations to the music of Ludwig Minkus and the choreography of Marius Petipa.

The ballet "Paquita" was originally created and staged for the Grande Opéra in Paris by the French ballet master Joseph Mazilier to music by Edouard Deldevez. The world premiere took place on 1 April 1846, starring Carlotta Grisi as Paquita and Lucien Petipa as Lucien d’Hervilly.

"Paquita" was brought from France to St. Petersburg by Marius Petipa, who recommended it for the troupe of the Imperial Ballet.Petipa already knew this ballet well, as his brother Lucien performed the lead male role in the first original version.Thus he staged the ballet to appear on the Russian stage for the first time on 8 October 1847, a year after its successful world premiere.

In 1908 and 1909, the revived by Petipa ballet "Paquita" was presented for the first time in Western Europe in an abbreviated production, shown by the troupe of leading dancers of the Imperial Ballet, including Anna Pavlova and Nikolai Legat.

Since the 1920s of the 20. century, however, only the Grand Pas Classique has been performed around the world, which Petipa staged in collaboration with composer Ludwig Minkus. It was not until 2001 that the full version of "Paquita" returned to the ballet stage. It was Pierre Lacotte, who restored the ballet in its entirety, completely re-choreographing it, making drastic changes in the score. At the same time, Lacotte retained the original pantomime scenes of Joseph Mazilier, as well as the additionally staged by Petipa Grand Pas Classique. Thus, 155 years after its world premiere, "Paquita" returned again on the stage, from which it began its long history.

Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved operas of all time. Unfortunately, its author Bizet failed to live to see the triumph of his work and never realized that he has created a true masterpiece. The ballet "Carmen" is the fruit of the work of the great choreographer Alberto Alonso, who created the choreographic text especially for Maya Plisetskaya. Plisetskaya's husband, the composer Rodion Shchedrin, was in charge of transcribing the music. The brilliant music of Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" has been reworked to emphasize its choreography. When working on the score, Shchedrin said that the ballet orchestra should sound a few degrees "hotter" than the opera:

"I chose the genre, I had to choose also the tools. To decide what instruments can convincingly compensate for the absence of human voices and emphasize the choreography of the music. So, I chose the band – strings and percussion. Worshiping the genius of Bizet, I tried to make this worship not slavish, but creative and to take advantage of the virtuoso capabilities of the chosen team."