Sofia Opera and Ballet celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff with two concerts. The spectacle is titled "Rachmaninoff Speaks" and will be presented on 1 and 22 April, the organisers announced.
The event is with the participation of Tsvetana Bandalovska (soprano), Blagovesta Konstantinova (piano) and Teodor Georgiev (actor).
"A year ago, when Blagovesta Konstantinova reminded me that Rachmaninoff's anniversary was coming up, I thought that I was born in Russia, Russian is my mother tongue, I love to sing in Russian and we decided that we would definitely do this concert. After the idea the realization started. I wanted this programme to be theatrical. Not to be a concert where you just perform some songs and the audience applauds. We brought everything together in one line and I hope that will appeal. Rachmaninoff will be very tangibly present on stage. That's why we titled the concert "Rachmaninoff Speaks", said Tsvetana Bandalovska on the occasion of the event.
After her words, the concert is structured to follow the composer's entire life. "We have selected poems from his favourite poet Byron. Why from him? Initially we wanted to find the thoughts of Rachmaninoff himself, but it turned out that he left nothing in the letters. He was very silent, not very communicative, he was an introvert. He certainly shared his thoughts only in the most intimate atmosphere. But we know that Pushkin, Shakespeare and Byron were some of his favourite poets. So, in Byron we found what we wanted to connect to the romances and the overall line that would go – Rachmaninoff's voice through Byron's verse woven into his romances", Bandalovska added.
In April the Sofia Opera and Ballet celebrates another anniversary. On 8 April will be marked 35 years since the premiere of "Don Carlos" by Verdi, staged by Plamen Kartaloff. Since 1988, some of the greatest Bulgarian opera singers – Nicolai Ghiaurov, Stefan Elenkov, Nicola Ghiuselev, Valeri Popova, Ghena Dimitrova, Tsvetelina Vassileva, Kaludi Kaludov, Emil Ivanov, Kostadin Andreev, Maria Belcheva, Orlin Anastasov, as well as a number of guests from abroad such as Roberto Scandiuzzi and Violeta Urmana – have taken part in the production. Conductor is the Slovak Maestro Oliver von Dohnányi.
On 2 April, the tenor James Lee and the soprano Eunhye Kim will sing for the first time in Bulgaria and will perform as Calaf and Liù in the opera "Turandot" by Giacomo Puccini on the stage of the Sofia Opera.
On 7 April, Veronica Simeoni – one of the performers of the "Kabaivanska School on the World Opera Stage" will play the role of Carmen from Georges Bizet's opera of the same name. The singer is a frequent guest at Italy's most renowned opera houses and has worked with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Michele Mariotti and Riccardo Chailly, Sofia Opera said.
Marta Petkova will be Anna Karenina in the last performance of the season of the ballet of the same name to music by Tchaikovsky on 9 April. Leo Mujić's astonishing production features Guilherme Alves as Count Karenin. The performance is conducted by Andrei Galanov and with the participation of Stoimen Peev (violin).
The opera "Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi will be presented on 13 April with soloists Courtney Mills, Isabel de Paoli, Diego Cavazzin and Liu Yitian. Conductor will be Konstantin Trinks, and in the spectacle will take part the orchestra and chorus of the Sofia Opera.
On 21 April Veselin Mihaylov as Frédéric, Ayla Dobreva as Ellen and Alexandrina Stoyanova as Rose will make their debut in the opera "Lacmé" by Léo Delibes, and on 23 April Valerio Borgioni and Ionut Pascu will be Alfred and Georges Germont as partners of Stanislava Momekova in "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi. Conductor is Grigor Palikarov.
https://bta.bg/bg/news/bulgaria/431702-sofiyskata-opera-otbelyazva-s-dva-kontserta-150-ata-godishnina-ot-rozhdenieto-na