On the 14th and 16th of March, Kristine Opolais: one of the most famous singers on the international scene, will arrive to Sofia to perform in two showings of “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini. Opolais is famous for her wonderful interpretations of Puccini’s heroines and the recording of “Sister Angelica” where she performs the main piece is nominated for the BBC Music Magazine award.
Kristine Opolais has performed the role of Cho-Cho-San in the New York Metropolitan opera, at the “Covent Garden” Royal opera, London, and in the Bavarian opera in Munich.
“New York Times” highlights her “sweet and expressive voice rising above Puccini’s solid sounding score”. “Batchtrack” paints the picture further: “Opolais possesses an expressive voice which she uses skillfully, to an incredible effect… she dominated the stage with her sharp sense of drama and her deep connection to the score. Her voice sometimes followed the melodies’ contours, performed by a single instrument, with stunning craftsmanship; it was as if her voice became a part of the orchestra.”
Kristine Opolais’ partner on stage is another famous star whom the Sofia Opera audience applauded vividly for his role as Rudolph in “La Boheme” the previous year. Tenor Liparit Avetisyan returns in the role of Pinkerton in which he debuted only a month ago at the Armenian national opera in Erevan and received the highest of praise for his performance. Immediately after, he performed at the Wiener Staatsoper and the press commented: “He possesses a bright and lyrical tenor with a hypnotizingly beautiful timbre. The Armenian tenor astounded the audience with his sparkling high notes and with his convincing performance…”
After the incredibly successful performances of “La Traviata” and “La Boheme” during 2023 and 2024, Boyan Videnov will again conduct: this time, both performances of “Madama Butterfly”.
Also starring in Plamen Kartaloff’s production: Kiril Manolov as Sharpless; Vesela Yaneva as Suzuki; Nikolay Pavlov, Emil Pavlov, Stefan Vladimirov, Tsveta Sarambelieva, Angel Hristov, the Sofia Opera orchestra and choir, with choir conductor Violeta Dimitrova.