On 1 November, the Day of the National Enlighteners, the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers and "Cantus Firmus" presented the traditional awards for excellence to artists in the field of music and dance.
"Crystal Lyre" for lifetime contribution was awarded to Acad. Plamen Kartaloff. At the ceremony held at the Stefan Makedonski Music Theatre, Stanislav Pochekanski, Chairman of the Union of Musicians and Dancers, handed out the award.
Plamen Kartaloff:
"Exactly fifty years ago, with the support of the Union of Musicians, we created the first "Youth Chamber Opera". The other special moment for me is that I did many productions on this stage and this hospitality that the Music Theatre gives for this ceremony is exciting. Thirty years ago, the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" was born here for the first time in Bulgaria. Since then, my other transgressions have continued with other musicals – "The Phantom of the Opera", "Sunset Boulevard". "Love Never Dies" came out recently as well. I'm connected to this stage and this collective. Thanks to you, I celebrate this exciting occasion for me, and thank everyone who has appreciated my half-century of creativity."
From 1990 to 1994, Plamen Kartaloff was the director of the Stefan Makedonski State Music Theatre, Sofia. Besides the listed musicals, he also staged the operettas "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss (1992) and "La belle Hélène" by Jacques Offenbach (1994).
The new season for the Sofia Opera and Ballet, whose director is Plamen Kartaloff, began with several prestigious international tours. With a new production of Wagner's opera "Die Walküre", the company is visiting the second edition of the Königswinstkel Festival in Füssen, Germany, after having won the hearts of the audience in 2015 with the tetralogy of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" performed for the first time in the town connected with the life of King Ludwig II, the patron of the Master of Bayreuth.
This was followed by another spectacular success at the 20th edition of the famous International Opera Festival in Daegu, Republic of Korea with Richard Strauss' "Elektra".
Also highly appreciated were the spectacles of Adam's "Giselle" that the national ballet company gave at the Verdi Theatre in Salerno, Italy.
Audiences in Ankara and Istanbul will meet the beautiful production of "Tosca" by Puccini – a gala tour dedicated to the centenary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, under the patronage of Mrs. Desislava Radeva, wife of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and Mrs. Emine Erdoğan, wife of the President of the Republic of Turkey.
On 9 December the Sofia Opera and Ballet will close the Festival of Opera and Ballet Art in Stara Zagora with a spectacle of Wagner's "Die Walküre".
In the new artistic season, the Sofia Opera is preparing several remarkable premieres. The first was the baroque opera "Amadigi di Gaula" by Händel. Ahead are Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", the musical The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the Bulgarian premieres of the opera "Medea" by Cherubini and the ballet "The Great Gatsby". Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" and Wagner's "Lohengrin" will return to the Sofia stage in new productions. The special offerings in the Programme for children are "Le carnaval des animaux" by Saint-Saëns, "The Broken Glass" by Hadjiev and "The Ugly Duckling" by Levi.
After the exceptionally successful summer festival dedicated to the 210th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth, during which audiences applauded seven operas by Wagner, a new production of the tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("Das Rheingold", "Die Walküre", "Siegfried", "Götterdämmerung"), recorded by BNT, began broadcasting on Channel 1 on 1 October, taking place every Sunday from 13.30 h in a series of twelve episodes. Such a large-scale campaign is happening for the first time and enjoys great interest by the spectators.
