Academician Plamen Kartaloff is the first Bulgarian opera director, invited to make his own production in the frames of the prestigious Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Italy. At that the Foundation, which organized the music event, entrusted to him to create the spectacle, with which were celebrated 100 years of the writing of the only operetta of the composer – “La rondine”.
For the music lovers Torre del Lago is almost a place for pilgrimage before the genius of a great creator. At the side of this Italian lake is located the house, in which Puccini created his great operas. Every summer the lake attracts admirers from all over the world, who would like to experience again the emotion from the music of the great Maestro. In the years often a star in the playbill was Ghena Dimitrova.
But never till now there wasn’t invited a Bulgarian director. The festival’s management scrutinizes the opera events in the world. They themselves looked for Plamen Kartaloff with the invitation to produce “La rondine”. Even if the work was never performed in our country, yet the Director of the Sofia Opera made already one successful production of this title in Ostrava, the Czech Republic.
Plamen Kartaloff: “I have taken one engagement for the Puccini Torre del Lago Festival and to make the opera “La rondine” – а very rare title. Hundred years of its writing and the world premiere of the work. The festival, which has been held for 63 years, was opened by Pietro Mascagni. This is a tradition, which Italy follows.”
Among the reports of the Italian critique outlines a laconic, but indicative definition for the work of the Bulgarian director. The musical critics are unanimous – Plamen Kartaloff’s directing is exceptional. The members of the festival’s management are also impressed by the sway of their Bulgarian guest. They were thinking over an invitation for a second production of his, but later they decided to do something else.
Plamen Kartaloff: “They saw in me a serious partner and demanded to hear the orchestra, the chorus and in general how do we work.”
This way the personal artistic engagement of Plamen Kartaloff opens widely the door for Puccini’s Festival in front of the Sofia Opera. After the main programme, up to now there is a week for guest-performances of foreign companies. The Sofia Opera however received an invitation for something absolutely different – to be guest-performer with three own productions in the main playbill of the prestigious festival.
