Photos: Presfoto BTA, Irena Danailova

Belogradchik,  
06.08.2022 12:10
(BTA)

The seventh edition of "Opera of the Peaks – Belogradchik Rocks" opened with the masterpiece "Nabucco" by Verdi. Acad. Plamen Kartaloff and the Mayor of Belogradchik Boris Nikolov gave the start of the seventh edition of the summer opera festival.

Among the unique Belogradchik Rocks, one of the 100 national tourist sites, the first festival day gathered hundreds of opera and ballet lovers.

Academician Kartaloff, who is the director and set designer of the opera "Nabucco", said at the opening how the idea was born to stage Verdi's masterpiece on the open stage among the natural scenery of the Belogradchik Rocks. He added that the charge for "Nabucco" was given to him by a profound phrase from Verdi's famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, "Oh, my homeland, so beautiful and lost...", which resonates strongly today. The connection of the weeping and groaning of the "Nabucco" Hebrew Chorus is metaphorical with today's times, when so many talents are born on our native land with inexhaustible energy, people with enormous energy from different strata, but as if shackled and enslaved by envy, indifference, disregard for what is valuable, at the expense of easy mediocrity, when our aspiration is for perfection, Acad. Kartaloff told before the audience. He added that the messages of "Nabucco" by the immortal maestro of the Italian Revolution Giuseppe Verdi sound naturally like a call bell ringing.

The performances of the artists, the chorus and the musicians from the Sofia Opera and Ballet deserved the applause of the audience.

The symphony orchestra was on the stage in Belogradchik under the conductorship of Maestro Dejan Savić. In the roles the audience saw and heard the performances of the artists – Ventseslav Anastasov (Nabucco), Lilia Kehayova, who played for the first time in the Abigaille's role, Maria Radoeva (Fenena), Emil Pavlov (Ismaele), Dimitar Stanchev (Zaccaria), Silvia Teneva (Anna), Krasimir Dinev (Abdallo), Nikolay Voynov (The Great Priest of Bel).

Tonight at 20:00 h, the festival continues with another Verdi operatic masterpiece – "Aida". In the following days, the audience will enjoy the performance of Vincenzo Bellini's "Norma" (7 August), as well as the premiere ballet "One Thousand and One Nights" (12, 13 and 14 August). The wealth of musical styles also includes the musical "Mamma Mia!" featuring the popular songs of ABBA, which the audience can see in four performances on 18, 19, 20 and 21 August.

The festival "Opera of the Peaks – Belogradchik Rocks" is realized with the financial support of the National Culture Fund under the program "Restoration and Development of State, Regional and Municipal Institutes".

BTA is a media partner of the seventh edition of the festival "Opera of the Peaks – Belogradchik Rocks".

https://www.bta.bg/bg/news/bulgaria/308088-otkriha-sedmoto-izdanie-