At the beginning of the summer, the Sofia Opera and Ballet offers ballet admirers a long weekend with various ballet titles – "Swan Lake", "Carmina Burana" and "Zorba the Greek".
The most popular of the ballets, Tchaikovsky's classic "Swan Lake", will be performed on the stage of the Sofia Opera and Ballet on 24 June. Boryana Petrova will be in the role of Odette-Odile, and Tsetso Ivanov – in the role of Prince Siegfried.
It is interesting to note that in its first performance "Swan Lake" suffered a crushing failure. The premiere was in Moscow on 20 February 1877. The choreography was by the Czech choreographer Václav Reisinger. The blame for the failure was laid with Tchaikovsky, and the argument was that the complexity of the music made it difficult for the dancers. "Swan Lake" was taken off the bill, and critics accused Tchaikovsky of being a "non-ballet composer."
The new premiere was in January 1895 in St. Petersburg. The choreography was by the great choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. From that moment on, the ballet received well-deserved recognition among both the public and the music critics, and this version was recognized as the best.
The second title in the ballet series is on 25 June. "Carmina Burana" with the music of Carl Orff’s famous cantata and choreography by Fredy Frazutti interprets themes and attitudes from the popular literary content during this period – wine, women, entertainment. In the different parts of the spectacle are shown human weaknesses and vices in different situations, which seem to escalate with each subsequent part. The lead roles are Venera Hristova, Kristina Chochanova, Georgi Banchev, Kristian Manev, Simeon Atanasov, Ralitsa Ilieva, Alfred Yago, Mattew Wittle, Francesco Congiusti.
On the last day of the month – 26 June, the character, born of the pen of Nikos Kazantzakis, will come to life, untouched by time, in the ballet "Zorba the Greek". In 1964, the famous Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis wrote the music for the film of the same name by Cacoyannis, with the participation of Anthony Quinn in the role of Zorba.
24 years later, the immortal idea of the power of the human spirit, which restores the joy of life and overcomes grief through dance, has been translated into dance language by the choreographer Lorca Massine. The mixture of classical, folk and modern dance in Lorca Massine’s choreography and the combination of symphonic and traditional Greek folk music by Mikis Theodorakis form a spectacle of incredible power. The audience will see in the roles: Zorba – Nikola Hadjitanev, Marina – Marta Petkova, John – Emil Yordanov, Madame Hortense – Marina Marinova, Yorgos – Rumen Bonev.