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Rositsa Rancheva
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At the meeting with the audience, which started in the foyer of the opera house, Vera Nemirova told interesting details about the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, also known as the father of opera art, who has been at the top of the opera world for more than 30 years, and about his spectacular work "The African Girl". "The work has two titles - 'The African Woman' and 'Vasco da Gama'," said the sweet-tongued Vera Nemirova.When Meyerbeer was given the task of writing an opera based on a story about a sailor who discovers his love on the shores of Africa, he was at the same time very much involved with the biography of Vasco da Gama. The story becomes very personal because Vasco da Gama is a historical figure. And as we know, he didn't discover the shores of Africa, he discovered the shores of India. I.e. "The African" is a wrong title, because Princess Selika is not an African, but an Indian. Thus begins a very interesting misunderstanding. On the other hand, in "The African Woman" everything that is alien, from our point of view, from another origin, comes together. So right in the title, we get to the heart of the conflict. Arriving at the Portuguese Parliament, Vasco announces that he is bringing with him people from an unknown continent, with an interesting bronze complexion and clothes the likes of which they have never seen. The Council treats them with fear, but also with condescension, as he has ransomed them as slaves in Africa. When people talk about Eastern Europe today, they include Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and other countries. "The African is in fact a provocation. But for me it is a great challenge and I started to think more about the attitude towards otherness, towards the foreign. When I started this title in 20015, it was the first big wave of refugees from Syria and the Middle East...Vasco da Gama sets out to conquer a continent and then returns to Europe to tell that he has brought light into the darkness. He is an extremely progressive and interesting man who literally changed the world with his discovery. But as we know, he then returned to his India with 21 warships armed to the teeth, only for it to fall on its knees before the colonisers- Portugal and Britain." Before the opera's premiere, which was in 1861, Meyerbeer died suddenly and was unable to correct the title, but he always referred to his opera as "my Vasco". Vera Nemirova told us many more curious details about the opera, which is in 5 acts and in its original performance lasts nearly 5 hours. It belongs to the genre of "French grand opera". It can be compared to the first version of the opera "Don Carlos", which also lasts approximately the same. To reassure the audience, Vera Nemirova and the conductor of the work Ivaylo Krinchev, after much deliberation, the performance was reduced to 3 hours, but without losing any of its beauty and power of impact. "When you listen to this work, you will discover the incomparable sentiment that Meyerbeer's music brings," said the opera's chief conductor Ivaylo Krinchev, "It is a feast of orchestration. The orchestra is a four-piece ensemble, which means that in the wooden band, for example, there are four instruments, four bassoons, which is very rare. He has realised the idea of bringing in bel canto technique by 'chipping' it down to the optimum possible range of the human voice. This makes it extremely difficult to interpret some parts that are borderline, i.e., can be done by voices such as mezzo soprano and soprano, and for the part of Celica we have two wonderful performers. Vasco da Gama's tenor part is extremely difficult to construct and very few singers are willing to interpret it. Thank you to all the soloists who were able to learn this huge title. When the sheet music arrived, the scores were 1500 pages long ... I hope we will achieve a softness of French romantic opera. The rich orchestration is not just accompaniment. It is saturated with many pictorial moments that suggest certain states that occur on stage. I think that The African is not only a very curious experience for orchestra, chorus, soloists. It will broaden their horizons enormously and in many ways," said Prof. Krinchev. The choirmaster Mladen Stanev said that during his first conversation with Vera Nemirova he had told her worriedly that the choir of the Stara Zagora Opera was 60-70 people, compared to 120 in the Deutsche Oper. Fortunately, the optimal option was found and "now, towards the end of the rehearsal period, I can say that things have worked out well. Musically, the work is very interesting as the actions put us in different situations where we have to be as expressive as possible...' The director of the ballet company, Sylvia Tomova, who worked on the sculpture, the dramaturge Sonya Nemirova, who stressed that, in the end, the whole action is built on love, the costume designer Marie-Therese Jossen , the pom. In the second part of the event, the audience was privy to a moment in the creative process of "The African Woman". In the lounge, we watched part of the first act featuring Besa Lugici as Ines and her courtier Anna played by Teresa Bracalova . The set design is extremely interesting and functional: a huge circle - a vision of the globe, with a projection of the newly discovered land - India, with the sails of the ships that at some point become an auditorium where the Parliament of Portugal is sitting, etc.All of them became artists and took their seats on the stage, around the "table" in the parliament as jurors. Amazing is the feeling of direct contact in the "statement" of Don Pedro - played by Delyan Slavov about the brave Portuguese sailor who set out to discover the new land and the announcement of the Inquisitor - Ivaylo Djurov, that he most likely died in the stormy waters; the news from Don Alvar - performed by Ivaylo Jovchev - that "a sailor from the crew of the Diaz has saved himself at the cost of his days and wants to have the honour of standing before Parliament". Enter Vasco da Gama, - played by Daniel Magdall, who tells of his voyage, of discovering the unknown land where "no European has yet set foot on these wild and deserted shores, on these dangerous cliffs and new beaches...Explored and conquered by us they shall be! I trust in the Lord who guides me! And may it be with your approval, gentlemen! May the King, thanks to you, entrust me with a ship. And soon, seizing this dangerous coast, by trade at sea, I promise you a kingdom. For you, new lands, with a different climate, great riches and prosperity! For me- immortality!" Piano accompaniment by Denitsa Petrova. Wonderful music, wonderful soloists, promising premiere!
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