Dear friends!
On the eve of the new year 2024, the team of the Sofia Opera strikes a balance of the past year.
The full halls at our spectacles were proof that you, our audience, fervently supported us and experienced every performance with us.
The year 2023 began with a whirlwind with the musical "Mamma Mia!" and the first month of the year ended with the premiere of the fantastic ballet "Anna Karenina" by the world-famous choreographer Leo Mujić to music by Tchaikovsky. The performance was conducted by Andrey Galanov and with the participation of Stoimen Peev, violin, and the delightful singers Tsvetana Bandalovska and Violeta Radomirska. In the main roles were Marta Petkova, Katerina Petrova, Nikola Hadjitanev, Tsetso Ivanov and Emil Yordanov. Due to the huge audience interest, additional performances were announced in the coming months.
In February we experienced the exciting story retold by Beethoven in the opera "Fidelio". An international artistic team prepared the stage version directed by Hans-Joachim Frey and with the participation of the famous Austrian bass Kurt Rydl and internationally-renowned singers Kristian Benedikt, Thomas Gazheli and Gabriela Georgieva, with the production conducted by Lothar Zagrosek.
At the beginning of March, the sparkling music of Gioachino Rossini conquered our stage. The premiere of "Il barbiere di Siviglia", a co-production with Opera Plovdiv, brought together young and established singers from Italy and Bulgaria. With great spirit and talent, they recreated Nina Naydenova's directorial idea, and in the role of Figaro was the superb baritone Kiril Manolov.
The programme of the Sofia Opera in April passed under the sign of two anniversaries – 35 years since the premiere of the opera "Don Carlo" by Verdi directed by Plamen Kartaloff and 150 years since the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
In Plamen Kartaloff's iconic production from the distant 1988 Nicolai Ghiaurov, Stefan Elenkov, Nicola Ghiuzelev, Valerie 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 the great singers Roberto Scandiuzzi and Violeta Urmana have taken part in the concert. The spectacle on 8 April was with the participation of bass Ivo Stanchev, who made his debut in Bulgaria under the baton of Oliver von Dohnanyi.
Three chamber concerts were dedicated to the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff with the participation of Tsvetana Bandalovska, prof. Blagovesta Konstantinova, Kiril Manolov and prof. Boryana Lambreva.
International Ballet Day was celebrated with two spectacles of Adolphe Adam's "Giselle" on 29 and 30 April. The main roles were danced by Marta Petkova and Boryana Petrova, Nikola Hadjitanev and Emil Yordanov, Venera Hristova and Maria Yordanova. The conductor was Boris Spasov.
In May, the world premiere of the new Bulgarian work "The Hermit of Rila" took place on the stage of the Sofia Opera, based on the text by Tihomir Pavlov and music by Father Kiril Popov. The story of the life of St. John of Rila was reinterpreted by directors Plamen Kartaloff and Vera Petrova, and the conductor was Metropolitan Cyprian of Stara Zagora. The role of the saint was brilliantly performed by Irinei Konstantinov. Atanas Mladenov, Veselin Mihaylov, Vladimir Ilisavskiy and Ivan Radev, as well as the Children's formation "Talasamche" led by Dimitar Kostantsaliev, the chorus and orchestra of the Sofia Opera took part in the concert performance. The spectacles were dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. "The Hermit of Rila" was also performed outdoors – at the fortress of Tsari Mali Grad as the beginning of the new artistic season in September.
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Summer festivals
During the summer the Sofia Opera hosted four festivals.
From 24 June to 30 July "Opera in the Park" in the park of the Academy of Defence gathered hundreds of children and their parents, friends, grandparents. Fairy tale characters came to life before the sparkling eyes of children, and artists performed and sang devotedly for our youngest audience.
From 8 to 30 July the Sofia Opera opened its doors for the biggest event of the past artistic season – Sofia Opera Wagner Festival, which this year presented all seven Wagnerian titles in the theatre's repertoire – "Das Rheingold", "Die Walküre", "Siegfried", "Götterdämmerung", "Tristan und Isolde", "Parsifal" and "Der fliegende Holländer". With the spectacular festival and the new production of the tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" directed by Plamen Kartaloff, the Sofia Opera and Ballet joined the international celebrations on the occasion of the 210th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner.
The soloist cast included the biggest stars of the Sofia Opera – Martin Iliev, Tsvetana Bandalovska, Radostina Nikolaeva, Kostadin Andreev, Mariana Zvetkova, Nikolay Petrov, Gergana Rusekova, Petar Buchkov, Daniel Ostretsov, Krasimir Dinev, as well as the guests Iordanka Derilova, Thomas Hall and Krisztián Cser.
The most prestigious international opera publications published their rave reviews of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and praised the entire Wagner Festival. The audience included numerous guests from Europe, the USA and Australia.
The new version of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" was filmed and broadcast on the Bulgarian National Television for 12 weeks – from 1 October to 17 December.
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The fourth edition of the festival "Muses on the Water" on Lake Pancharevo was dedicated to the ballet spectacles "Swan Lake", "Don Quixote", "Carmina Burana", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Carmen-Suite and Bolero", as well as 9 performances, completely sold out, of the musical "Mamma Mia!". From 14 July to 27 August, numerous guests from Bulgaria and abroad enjoyed the wonderful summer theatre of the Sofia Opera and performances of exceptional quality.
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The eighth summer festival "Opera of the Peaks" in Belogradchik from 4 to 13 August offered the premiere of the opera "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini, staged by an artistic team from South Korea, as well as two ballet titles – "Don Quixote" and "Carmina Burana". All performances were performed before packed stands.
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New 2023/2024 Season
The new artistic season started with the triumphant visit of the Sofia Opera to the Königswinkel Festival in Füssen, Germany. The festival's Neuschwanstein theatre presented Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre" on 1 and 3 October with stunning success. The Bulgarian production was extremely well received and appreciated by the German audience and the German press.
The rarely performed Baroque opera "Amadigi di Gaula" by Georg Friedrich Händel found its stage at the Sofia Opera, and a little later a version for children was made.
The return of the ballet "Zorba the Greek" by Mikis Theodorakis to the Sofia stage was a great success. The presence of the choreographer Lorca Massine inspired the ballet company of the Sofia Opera, and at the first spectacle the finale of the ballet was repeated 4 times to the frenetic applause of the audience.
In November the Sofia Opera was guest at the International Opera Festival in Daegu, South Korea with the opera "Elektra" by Richard Strauss. Plamen Kartaloff's production was awarded the Grand Prize for Contribution by the Saya Opera Awards. It was also the first performance of "Elektra" in South Korea.
Over 3 000 spectators warmly applauded the two performances of Puccini's "Tosca" during the Sofia Opera's tour to Ankara and Istanbul on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey. The performances were for charity, with all funds from ticket sales going to help the regions of Turkey affected by the earthquakes in February 2023.
At the beginning of May, the Sofia Opera Ballet performed "Swan Lake" at the Teatro Verdi, Salerno, after which they received a new invitation for two performances of "Giselle" by Adolphe Adam, which were again welcomed by the audience in the packed hall with great enthusiasm.
After the astonishing success in Füssen, Germany, on 9 December the fantastic "Die Walküre" by the Sofia Opera closed the 53rd edition of the Festival of Opera and Ballet Art in Stara Zagora. Conducted by Evan-Alexis Christ, "Die Walküre" ignited the festival guests, with Thomas Hall, Mariana Zvetkova, Martin Iliev, Gergana Rusekova, Tsvetana Bandalovska in the lead roles, Angel Hristov, as well as the eight wonderful Valkyries Ayla Dobreva, Ina Kalinova, Silvia Teneva, Lyubov Metodieva, Elena Mehandzhiyska, Tsveta Sarambelyeva, Vesela Yaneva and Aleksandrina Stoyanova-Andreeva.
The three performances of "La bohème" by Giacomo Puccini with the participation of young ambassadors of opera from the opera theatre in Daegu, South Korea, soloists, orchestra and chorus of the Sofia Opera under the direction of Paolo Andreoli evoked loud applause and were a fantastic experience for the audience on the eve of the Christmas holidays.
As every year, all 8 performances of "The Nutcracker" were sold out and tickets still continued to be sought after on social media and at the Opera’s box office.
Traditionally, we end the year with three New Year's Gala concerts where the programme is always a surprise for the audience and the audience receives a gift glass with a New Year's greeting.
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Programme for children
Taking care of our future audience was a priority again this year.
In the programme for the youngest audience, along with the well-known "Concerts for Babies" "Winnie-the-Pooh", "Shegobishko on the Wonder Island", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Hänsel und Gretel" and "The Lost Princess", there was also a new spectacle – the children's opera "The Grumpy Goat" by Yuli Damyanov. The performances of Talasamche Children’s vocal and theatre formation with the director Dimitar Kostantsaliev are also very popular.
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Chamber concerts
The concerts in the Chamber Hall of the Sofia Opera were numerous this year. They brought together a number of distinguished musicians in stylish chamber programmes on various occasions – the coming of spring, Easter, Christmas, themed evenings with the musicians of the Sofia Opera Orchestra, etc.
On the stage of the National Opera returned the concert series "Lyudmil Angelov and Friends", in which he invited as partners famous opera singers – Grammy winners – Marie-Claude Chappuis, Alexandrina Pendatchanska and Bülent Bezdüz.
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Other events
With many titles from the repertoire of the Sofia Opera in which she sang, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Maria Callas and paid tribute to her unsurpassed achievements. The year also marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of one of Sofia Opera's leading soloists, the baritone Stoyan Popov.
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On 11 January 2023, with Bellini's opera "Norma", we launched a new initiative that we called "Opera and Ballet Up Close". Prior to each performance, our hosts introduce the audience to trivia and stories about each repertory title, and these enjoyable encounters are often attended by artists, choreographers, directors, conductors, and accompanists.
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For the first time Sofia Opera hosted the pre-selection for two major international competitions for young opera singers – "Voci Verdiane" in Busseto, Italy and "Competizione dell'Opera" this year with the final in Bolshoi Theatre Tashkent.
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We celebrated World Opera Days (25.10) and World Ballet Days (01.11) with special videos and meetings with the audience.
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We joined the European Heritage Days and the Night of Theatres.
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We realized numerous behind the scenes tours – for Bulgarian and foreign visitors.
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At a special meeting in Sofia, the directors of the Sofia Opera and Ballet and the National Opera and Ballet in Skopje, Plamen Kartaloff and Vaso Ristov, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the two institutions.
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As a member of "Opera Europa", Sofia Opera participated in the first specialized meeting dedicated to opera festivals.
This is one of the important annual forums of "Opera Europa", where directors of renowned festivals and representatives of opera institutions had an in-depth discussion around the organisation of opera festivals and their role for the societies of each country.
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We hosted several exhibitions, with the exhibition "Prima" featuring black and white photographs by Dimitri Stefanov being a particular highlight. The photographer was inspired by the ballet of the Sofia Opera.
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We gave numerous performances in various kindergartens at their invitation, as well as in various spaces outside the opera house.
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During the year our guests were:
Eduard Martyniuk, Diana Lamar, Maria Radoeva, James Lee, Eunhye Kim, Valerio Borgioni, Ionut Pascu, Kristian Benedikt, Kurt Rydl, Thomas Gazelli, Lothar Zagrosek, Hans-Joachim Frey, Giuseppe Infantino, Julian Henao Gonzalez, Francesco Marsiglia, Dario Giorgelè, Vera Girginova, Kiril Manolov, Aleksandar Nosikov, Veronica Simeoni, Georg Fritsch, Ivo Stanchev, Oliver von Dohnanyi, Constantin Trinks, Courtney Mills, Isabel de Paoli, Diego Cavacin, Andrea Tabili, Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi, Guilherme Alves, Olga Dineva, Anna Verle, Ilya Silchukov, Blagoy Nacoski, Iordanka Derilova, Ilya Selivanov, Alexandra Schmitt, Lorca Massine, Katerina Chebykina, Thomas Hall, Krisztián Cser, Evan-Alexis Christ.
Repertoire:
“Norma”, “Elektra”, “The Queen of Spades”, “Tosca”, “Turandot”, “La traviata”, “Rigoletto”, “Carmen”, “Lakmé”, “La Cenerentola”, “Ariadne auf Naxos”, “Madama Butterfly”, “The Hermit of Rila”, “Don Carlo”, “La bohème”, “Swan Lake”, “Don Quixote”, “Anna Karenima”, “Carmen Suite”, “Bolero”, “A Midsummer Night Dream”, “Giselle”, “The Nutcracker”, “Zorba the Greek”, “Carmina Burana”, “Mamma mia!”.
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Our balance for 2023:
13 premieres, 315 performances presented to more than 135 000 spectators.
Sofia Opera and Ballet is following the strategy of digitalization of sales and we note a significant growth – 58% of sales are online.
We look forward to seeing you next year to share our love of opera and ballet together.
We wish you health, prosperity and success in 2024.
Sofia Opera and Ballet