Stara Zagora Opera celebrates its 95th anniversary with a festive concert
News публикувана на: 24.06.2020
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The Stara Zagora Opera will celebrate its 95th anniversary with a magnificent concert on 1 July at 21.00 at the Antique Forum "Augusta Traiana". The concert will be attended by tenor Kamen Chanev and prima Veselina Katsarova, the artistic director of the Opera, who is coming especially for the event. The star soloists of the Stara Zagora Opera Emilia Ivanova, Elena Baramova, Rusalina Mochukova, Alexander Krunev, Ivaylo Djurov and Julian Konstantinov, the young opera hopeful Daniela Nineva, the choir, the orchestra, the ballet and the graduates of the Children's and Youth Opera and Ballet Studio "Margaritki" will take part. The programme, selected and arranged by Maestro Ivaylo Krinchev, includes overtures, arias, duets, ensembles and choruses, ballet scenes from operas by Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Gounod, Puccini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Chilea, Giordano, Parashkev Khadzhiev and others, and the finale of the ballet Ghetto. Romina Slavova and Nikolai Aprilov will host the concert.
The history of Stara Zagora Opera in brief
The birthday of the Stara Zagora Opera House is the date of July 1, 1925, when the curtain was raised for the first opera performance in Stara Zagora - "Gergana" by Maestro Georgi Atanasov. Stara Zagora Opera was born in a family with loving "parents" - the first in the image of Gergana - Nichka Hadzhimiteva-Batalova, whose 115th birthday is celebrated this year . And the choirmaster of the production, called by the people of Stara Zagora "The Father of Opera" is Zlatan Stanchev. He is affectionately called "Prometheus Stanchev".
The other members of the team that realized "Gergana" are: director Mara Shopova, conductor Atanas Kovachev, ballet master Yosif Stoilov, painter Hristo Kostakev, accompanist Natalia Zafirova, inspirer and lighting designer Neno Nenov, stagehand Panayot Hristov. In the role of Nikola is the lawyer Georgi Batalov, Selim Bey is Tenyu Velev, Mukhtar Aga - Stefan Daskalov, Grandfather Nedyalko - Petar Totev and others.
Opera in Stara Zagora has a living peer - Sandy Ganchev, a long-time chorister, born in December 1925.
From 1928 to 1934, the opera in Stara Zagora was named District Opera-Stara Zagora, with Stara Zagora as its centre and the districts of Burgas, Tarnovo and Plovdiv. On 14 May 1934 the Stara Zagora Opera House came under the auspices of the Stara Zagora City Municipality and was renamed the Stara Zagora Municipal Opera House. On April 1, 1946 the Stara Zagora Opera became State Opera, by order of the Minister of Information and Arts Dimo Kazasov. He attended the third performance of the opera "La Traviata", was very impressed, gave the word for the opera to become state opera and performed it. With Minister Kazasov's order, the Stara Zagora Opera actually became the first opera out of capital in Bulgaria.
The birth year of ballet in Stara Zagora is considered to be 1949, when the first ballet production "The Doll Fairy" was staged on the theatre stage. With the advent of Dimitar Dimitrov in 1958 and the stabilization of the management, with the formation of a permanent post-establishment team including Peter Ruskov, Georgi Petrov, Bogdana Popova and the second conductor Veselin Nenov, all of them concerned about their theatre, a revival and upsurge began.
In 1967 the annual "December Music Days" began - another stimulus, another challenge for the theatre and its ensembles, for the audience.
In 1971, the oldest opera house outside the capital got its own building - the largest and most modern for its time in the Balkans, the pride and emblem of the city.
On 1 and 4 October 1991 were the premiere performances of Madame Butterfly . Early the next day, October 5, 1991, the set had to be loaded to leave for Greece, but... "At 24.15 a.m. a fire broke out and destroyed the stage, the auditorium and the mise en scene" - says the protocol of the performance.
The premiere of "Carmen" is the official opening of the restored building of the State Opera - Stara Zagora on the Day of Stara Zagora - 5.10.2010.
Stara Zagora Opera House today
Opera director Ognyan Draganov took over the management of the Stara Zagora State Opera in 2015 as interim director, and in 2016 - after winning a competition - he was appointed director. He invited conductor Ivaylo Krinchev to his team as chief conductor, and in 2016 - world opera prima Veselina Katsarova as artistic director of the theatre. In the same year the prima ballerina Sylvia Tomova was engaged as artistic director of the ballet company. Priority in the repertoire and management policy of Ognyan Draganov and his team are activities related to the mastering of new and unconventional spaces, the inclusion of a growing and diverse range of opera and ballet fans, performances for children and educational programs, international co-productions and creative exchanges, striving for unusual and syncretic projects with the brand "For the first time in Bulgaria" / "Opera at the stadium", "Opera at the circus", Opera with puppets, etc. /. Among the initiatives implemented by Ognyan Draganov and the management of the State Opera Stara Zagora, which contribute to the creative upsurge of the cultural institute, are the opening of a chamber opera stage "In the pocket 234", the restoration of the summer stage of the Ancient Forum, the organization and holding of the traditional and unique Festival of Opera and Ballet Art as a prestigious international forum, the establishment of the Balkan Opera Network, the inclusion under the umbrella of the Stara Zagora Opera of the Children and Youth Opera and Ballet Studio "Margaritki". The pride of the Opera and the city is the multinational ballet company, which has attracted ballet artists from all over the world and has already had its bright creative successes and awards. The Stara Zagora Opera and its traditions and achievements are reflected in the January issue of the prestigious European publication "Oppernglass" on the occasion of the premiere performance in Bulgaria and the region of the opera "The African Girl" by Meyerbeer - a joint production with Deutsche Oper Berlin.
