The opera “Saints Cyril and Methodius” will have a premiere in July this year, on the Roman Square in the Boyana Cinema Center, reported from the Sofia Opera. The production is in honour of 40 years of the declaring of the Holy brothers for co-patrons of Europe
On 31 December 1980, the Holy Pope John Paul II declared the brothers of Thessaloniki Saints Cyril and Methodius as co-patrons of Europe, together with St. Benedictus. This gesture of the Roman Church and the pope himself is indicative that Europe is an embrace of two hands and two hearts, of the East and the West, and in this embrace are the values of Europe, commented from the Opera.
The opera was written by the Bulgarian composer Jivka Klinkova (1924-2002). It was performed in 1981 in concert version in Poland before the Holy Pope John Paul II, who distinguished the work with a special charter.
With the staging of this undeservedly forgotten work on its stage, the Sofia Opera gives an important sign of the significance of the apostle’s mission of the Holy brothers for Bulgaria, for the rest of the Slavonic world and the culture of Europe, commented the stage director Acad. Plamen Kartaloff. After his words, this opera is an event in the Bulgarian operatic art, dedicated to the deed of the holy apostles of Thessaloniki. The libretto is written by the author after Venko Markovski’s verses from his poem “Sacred Legends”.
In the lead roles of Constantine-Cyril and his brother Methodius will incarnate themselves respectively Biser Georgiev and Atanas Mladenov; in rest of the numerous historical characters – the soloists Angel Hristov, Stefan Vladimirov, Krasimir Dinev, Ivanka Ninova, Gergana Rusekova, Daniel Ostretsov, Petar Buchkov and others. Conductor is Igor Bogdanov, chorus master – Violeta Dimitrova, and the musical preparation is by Agnes Dankova and Yolanta Smolyanova. Set designer of the spectacle is Sven Jonke. Consultant is Prof. Plamen Pavlov.
With this work of art continues the tradition of our national opera theatre to stage some forgotten works like the operas by Georgi Atanasov in the last years – “Borislav”, “Kosara” and “Altsek”, “Tsar Kaloyan” by Pancho Vladigerov,”Zachary the Painter” by Marin Goleminov and “Yana’s Nine Brothers” by Lyubomir Pipkov.
The little known in Bulgaria composer Jivka Klinkova graduated from the Academy of Music in Sofia in 1947. She specialized composition with Prof. Wagner-Régeny and Prof. Boris Blacher in Berlin (1960-1966). She visited the international courses for new music in Darmstadt (Germany), Bournonville Festival in Copenhagen (Denmark), Karl Hofer Symposium in Berlin (Germany), Heidelberg (Germany, 1985).
She worked as composer and conductor in today’s Philip Kutev Ensemble (1951-1966). She is author of 11 ballets, operas, musicals, compositions for symphony, string and chamber orchestra, suites and others for folk orchestra, chamber instrumental music. She has over 250 songs for solo and choir with piano accompaniment, arrangements of folk songs and dances, film music, pieces for pop orchestra. Many of her works sounded for the first time and are performed with success abroad.