On the 21st of December, 7pm, “The Peach Thief” performance will take place in the Sofia Opera Chamber hall; the performance is based on Emilian Stanev’s novel of the same name and the former’s premiere was met with awe in March this year. The opera is written by Blagovesta Konstantinova and the libretto: by Tsonka Velikova, the Sofia Opera press center noted.
Director: Teodor Georgiev.
Teodor Georgiev, “The Peach Thief” director:
“The idea to set this opera came from my professor, acad. Plamen Kartaloff, under whose tutelage I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in production. Initially, the performance was created as a thesis and now the time has come for it to live its own life on the Sofia Opera and Ballet Chamber stage.”
My research for writing the script began with Emilian Stanev’s novel. It was an exceptionally emotional journey and I dived in Liza, the main character’s deep personal drama. I also watched the great film by Valo Radev starring the incredible actors Nevena Kokanova, Rade Markovic, Mihail Mihaylov and Vasil Vachev.
Then, I set off to research composer Blagovesta Konstantinova’s Romanticism style score which elevates the consciousness to a whole different level. She sets three main leitmotifs which can be heard constantly throughout the opera: the love leitmotif (first violins); the fate leitmotif (flutes, oboe, clarinet, bassoon; the war leitmotif (korns, timpani).
Experiencing the horror Liza goes through, I decided to include a shadow theater in the performance, with the shadows representing her biggest fears and her greatest desires. Our dreams are the only place where our subconscious is at work. This idea was born by my wish to illustrate Liza’s dream from the overture.
I was led by the ideas of verismo, with the story’s place and time being preserved according to the libretto’s genesis in the images on stage. The only surrealistic intervention is the aforementioned shadow theater.
Prof. Blagovesta Konstantinova shares her thoughts:
“I wrote the opera “The Peach Thief” during the winter and summer of 2009 and finished the orchestral score during 2011. Emiliyan Stanev’s short novel “The Peach Thief” had been attracting my interest for a long time.
I offered prof. d.n. Tsonka Velikova, my friend and colleague, to write the libretto. I was so eager to begin composing. I even began writing the opera without having the entire libretto to work with.
The opera consists of two acts, seven scenes, an introduction, two intermezzos and a nocturne.
I paid special attention to the protagonists’ personal experiences, to their thoughts, feeling and personal drama. I developed Liza’s character the most. There already a couple of leitmotifs in my opera which form and help the musical dramaturgy unfold. The main topics of war, fate and love are already introduced at the very start of the opera and remain as leitmotifs throughout the entire piece. The Colonel’s motives are also revealed several times throughout the opera, depending on their dramaturgical impact.
The musical dramaturgy is built by contrasting scenes which also flow into each other by using leitmotif-driven music-thematic development.
I aimed for the singers’ parts to sound natural, melodic and vocally convincing all the while being comfortable enough to perform. While creating the opera, the orchestra played an exceptionally important part: it enriches the score musically and thematically with its intriguing and colorful timbre elements.
It was a great joy for me to compose this piece as it is very dear to me.
I hope the sincere feelings and emotions in my music will touch the audience’s heart!”
Production team:
Conductor: Stefan Nedyalkov
Director: Teodor Georgiev
Artist: Lyuboslav Boyanov
Score: Blagovesta Konstantinova
Choreography: Lyudmila Ilieva
Choir conductor: Violeta Dimitrova
Co-tutors: Petar Belneev, Svetlana Ananievska
With the participation of the Sofia Opera chamber orchestra and choir
Starring:
Liza: Silvia Teneva
Ivo Obretenovich: Hrisimir Damyanov
The Colonel: Alexandar Georgiev