The Event

An exciting concert with the songs of Giacomo Puccini will bring together Puccini's fans on 26 June at 7 pm in the hall of the State Opera Stara Zagora to enjoy the art of a beloved and proven creative tandem - the tenor Ivaylo Mihaylov and the pianist Denitsa Petrova. The concert will present the cycle "The Songs of Puccini", and the compositions included in the programme will surprise all admirers of the composer, because they are little known and became public knowledge only in 1987, when one of the greatest researchers of Puccini's works - Michael Kay published them.

Ivaylo Mikhailov will present songs for voice and piano intended for connoisseurs who find the pleasure of art in more serious music.The concert will be hosted by the established actress Ivana Papazova, who is not the first time she has had a close encounter with opera. In 2014, Ivana Papazova received the "PLOVDIV" Award in the category "Theatre" and the annual award of the Society of Independent Critics for the mono-performance "VOICE" by Elena Alexieva, dir. Kalin Angelov. "Voice" tells the story of the double and unrealized understudy of the opera prima Maria Callas - Victoria Glass.

Puccini's songs, which will be presented for the first time to the Stara Zagora audience by tenor Ivaylo Mikhailov, were composed during Puccini's most prolific years, and many of them were written accidentally, on a specific occasion or at the insistence of relatives and friends. Some were composed at the request of educational institutions, others as romances intended for receptions, and were published in periodical music publications.

The romance A te was written between 1874 and 1880, when Puccini was studying composition with Carlo Angeloni at the Pacini Institute. "Salve Regina and Mentia l'avvizo were composed during his studies at the Milan Conservatory. The song "Canto d'anime" was written in 1904 especially for the "gramophone" on commission from Alfredo Micaelis, owner of a gramophone company. Puccini wrote the magnificent song "Casa mia" /"My House"/ at the request of Edoardo de Fonseca, editor, who included it in an article published in the magazine "La casa" /"The House"/. In the article Puccini describes and talks about his residences in Torre del'Lago, Chiatri and Abetone. With "L'uccelino" /"The Little Bird"/, a lullaby written for the child of a friend, with "Terra e mare" /"Land and Sea"/, written for De Fonseca for the "Annual Album of Arts and Letters", and with "Novisima - 1902", Puccini reached the high level of a successful song composer.

A keen musical ear will detect that Puccini was far from resisting the temptation to use these songs as motifs in his operas as well. As Michael Kay says: the songs are like early thoughts for future operas. For example, De Greio's famous aria from the opera Manon Lescaut is built on Mentia l'Avviso, a recitative and aria for tenor and piano. The basis of the third act quartet of La Boheme is the song Sole e amore /Sun and Love/, a motet written by Puccini eight years earlier. In Tosca and Madame Butterfly one hears echoes of melodies already born from Puccini's pen. One of them is "Avanti Urania" /Forward, Themis!", composed by Puccini for his great friend and patron Marquis Carlo Ginori-Liszti /Cadravia/. The other is "Inno a Diana" /"Hymn to Diana"/, written for the hunting parties and dedicated to all hunters in Italy. "Canto d'anime /Song of the Souls/ is the prototype of Rinuccio's aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi. "Morire" /To Die/ was used twice, in an album sold for charity by the Italian Red Cross during the First World War and as Ruggero's opening aria in the second version of Die Fledermaus. There are many other examples of the use of Puccini songs and also instrumental works in the composition of his operas.

The programme

A te - To you Mentia l'avviso - The warning lied Storiella d'amore - Love story Sole e amore - Sun and love Avanti Urania - Forward Themis Inno a Diana - Hymn to Diana Casa mia - My House E l'uccelino (Ninna - nanna ) - The Little Bird (Lullaby) Terra e mare - Land and Sea Canto d'anime (Pagina d'album) - Song of Souls (Album Page) Morire? - To die

Participants

IVAYLO MIKHAILOV is a Bulgarian tenor opera singer. In 1997 he obtained a Bachelor's degree in classical singing at the Pancho Vladigerov Academy of Performing Arts in Sofia in the class of the world-famous opera diva Valerie Popova. In 2002 she won a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria. She went to the Boris Hristov Academy in Rome, Italy, where she studied under the guidance of Giuseppe Taddei, and then continued her studies at the Academy of Baroque Opera Art in Sofia for six months. He completed a six-month course at the Teatro Baroque in Osimo (Italy) with teachers Luigi Alva and William Matteuzzi. In 2002 she defended her Master's degree in vocal pedagogy from NBU - Sofia in the class of prof. Prof. Russko Ruskov. In 2010 Ivaylo Mihaylov obtained a Master's degree in Art Management from AMTII - Plovdiv under the supervision of prof. Prof. Zhivka Busheva. In 2013, he obtained a Master's degree in Music and Stage Directing from AMTII - Plovdiv under the supervision of prof. Pavel Gerdzhikov. His debut as a director was the opera Bastien and Bastienne by V. А. Mozart. In 2012 he appeared in the animated films Brain Damage and Bulgarian, directed by Nedelcho Bogdanov.

He made his debut at the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in 2012 as Ernani from Giuseppe Verdi's opera of the same name in the Varna Opera production. The following year he made his debut at the Bucharest National Opera and Ballet as Faust from Charles Gounod's opera of the same name. Next came Don José at the Coliseo do Porto in May 2014 and the title role of Vakula in Tchaikovsky's fairytale opera Tcherevichki at the opera house in Brno. Cagliari, broadcast on RAI TV in January 2015 and can be watched on the official RAI 5 website. Since 2012 he has been a regular participant of the Festival of the Ancient Theatre in the town of Cagliari. Plovdiv. Next came engagements in the leading roles in the operas "La Boheme", "Masked Ball", "Carmen" in Spoleto, Italy where he has been a guest soloist since 2015 with tours in Perugia, Orvieto, Assisi. He has sung on stages in Palma de Mallorca, Antwerp, Ghent and many others. In 2013/14 he was a mentor and judge in the first edition of "Pop star to opera star" - Vietnam and vocal teacher in X-factor. His strongest roles are Hernani, Don José, Rodolfo, Fenton, Pinkerton, Alfred Germont, Radames, Faust, Cavaradossi, Vacula and more than 30 other roles.

In 2019 he made his debut with great success in the role of Vasco da Gama from Meyerbeer's opera La Africaine in a joint production of the Stara Zagora Opera and Deutsche Oper-Berlin. Ivaylo Mihaylov has numerous recordings for the Bulgarian National Radio and BNT. Guest soloist of the Gdansk Opera since 2019 in the production of the opera "Thais" by Masne, which was also presented to the Stara Zagora audience under the baton of Maestro José Maria Florencio at FOBI 2019. PhD student at AMTII-Plovdiv with scientific supervisor prof. Prof. Toni Shekherdjieva. Ivaylo Mihaylov is a student of the famous Bulgarian tenor Kaludi Kaludov. Soloist of the State Opera Stara Zagora since 2018.

[caption id="attachment_26665" align="alignleft" width="300"] Denitsa Petrova[/caption]

DENITSA PETROVA is a pianist with a rich palette of musical possibilities, experience and creative inexhaustible energy. Denitsa Petrova was born in Stara Zagora into an artistic family. Her mother was the first piano teacher who revealed to her the beauty of music. She started to play the piano at the age of 5 and was accepted to the Secondary Music School "Hr. Morfova".

She graduated from the Secondary Music School in 1996 with many appearances in productions and concerts. She graduated from the Academy of Music and Dance Art - Plovdiv in 2002 under Professor Roxana Bogdanova with honors. As a student she worked as an opera accompanist at the State Opera Stara Zagora, where she gained a lot of experience during her 20 years of practice with various opera titles and working with different conductors from Bulgaria and abroad. She participated in a masterclass for opera corpépetition with Katja Borisova (Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg, Bayerische Staatsoper).

In her practice she has worked with directors such as Plamen Kartalov, Hacho Boyadzhiev, Ursula Horner, Vera Nemirova, Ignazio Occhipinti. She has accompanied such world-renowned soloists as Veselina Katsarova, Nadia Krasteva, Daniel Magdal, Dragana Radakovic, Dario Di Vietri, Kaludi Kaludov, Boyko Tsvetanov, Kamen Chanev and all the exceptionally talented soloists of Stara Zagora Opera.

[caption id="attachment_26666" align="alignleft" width="200"] Ivana Papazova[/caption]

Ivana Papazova is a graduate of NATFA "Krastio Sarafov" in the class of prof. Bohdan Serchadzhiev and prof. She took her first steps on the stage of the Vidin Theatre. She made her debut in Plovdiv in the play "Closer to the Ground" by Željko Hubac (2003). She next starred in "Blood Wedding" by Lorca (2006) dir. Marius Kurkinski. Under his direction for the role of Hadzhieva in The Golden Mine by St. Л. Kostov's production at the Haskovo Theatre, she received her first Ikar nomination in 2010. In 2009 she graduated with a master's degree in theatre directing from the Paisii Hilendarski University of Performing Arts.

The actress' repertoire includes the roles. Vladimir Lyutskanov - Iconia in "Wolves", based on "The Tales of Tran" by Petar Delchev, dir. Diana Dobreva - Madame Prentiss in "Undress" by Joe Orton, dir. Krasimir Rankov - Vassa Zheleznova in "Mother" by Maxim Gorky, dir. Margarita Macheva - "Intermission (Indecent Title)" by Alexander Mardan, dir. Ivan Urumov - Georgiane in Five Women in Identical Dresses by Alan Ball, dir. Atanas Atanasov - Lane in "Clean House" by Sarah Ruhl, dir. Ivan Urumov - Victoria Glass in "Glass" by Elena Alexieva, dir. Kalin Angelov - mono-performance - The Jester in King Lear by William Shakespeare, dir. Staiko Murdzhev - Agafya Tikhonovna in "Marriage" by N. В. Gogol, dir. Ivan Urumov - Popstar Donna in "Blue Square", dir. Boris Pankin - Nadezhda Petrovna in "Lie Detector" by Vasily Sigarev, dir. Krasimir Rankov - Eva in Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, dir. Ivan Urumov - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, dir. Georgy Mikhalkov - The Wayward Wife in The Good Doctor by Neil Simon, dir. Nedyalko Delchev - Pepi in "Orchestra Without a Name" by Stanislav Stratiev, dir. Boris Pankin - The Housekeeper in "Shots at No Time" by Gerald Moon - Polina in "A Place to Come" by Ostrovsky, dir. Ivan Urumov - Elena in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - The Handmaid in Blood Wedding by F. Г. Lorca, dir. Marius Kurkinski TV - Veneta in "Dear Heirs", dir. Todor Chapkanov, producer BTV Studios AWARDS 2011 - "PLOVDIV" Award in the category "Theatre" for her roles in "Autumn Sonata" and "Expecting Godot" 2014 - "PLOVDIV" Award in the category "Theatre" and the Annual Award of the Society of Independent Critics for the mono-play "VOICE" by Elena Alexieva, dir. Kalin Angelov 2014 - Prize for the main female role at the International Festival of Mono-Performances BGMOT GABROVO 2014 2014 - First Prize for the female role at the National Festival of Small Theatrical Forms-Vratsa 2014 2017 - "Asker" Award for the supporting female role - Iconia in "Wolves", dramatization by Al. Sekulov, based on "The Stories of Tran" by Petar Delchev, dir. Diana Dobreva