Author Hristo Nikolov
The prima ballerina Marta Petkova became the Chief artistic director of the ballet of the Sofia Opera, announced the Director of the opera acad. Plamen Kartaloff.
The condition for this appointment was that she continue to perform, as she is the leading ballerina in the company and much of the repertoire is based on her performances.
Marta Petkova is a leading ballerina in Bulgaria who is at the peak of her career at the moment and is often invited to major European theatres. Before "24 Chasa", she shared that the offer of the position surprised her a few days ago, but she accepted because her colleagues encouraged her. She has not yet been able to assemble a team to help her with the administrative work of running the ballet's 70-member cast. She has ideas for her team and for tutors, but she prefers to share them later.
One of the productions she has always dreamed of and is ambitious to do in Sofia is Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo and Juliet". Unfortunately, however, this cannot happen this season, as when she accepted to lead the company, the repertoire was already composed.
Only one ballet premiere has been announced for the upcoming season so far – Alexander Raichev's "The Spring of the White-footed". There will be another one at the very end of the season, but the opera's management has not yet shared the title.
Most premieres in the new season have been postponed due to the pandemic titles – "The Queen of Spades", the premiere of which is in November, "Il barbiere di Siviglia", a co-production with the Plovdiv Opera, as well as a concert performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio". In July next year, the Sofia Opera and Ballet will present Wagner's cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" plus "Tristan und Isolde", "Parsifal" and "Der fliegende Holländer".
Marta Petkova replaces Alexander Alexandrov in this position. He spent only one season as the ballet's Chief artistic director, after the 12-year leadership of Sara-Nora Krysteva.