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From 12 June to 1 September in the Stara Zagora Art-Alley, which is located in the southern part of the 5th October Park, Stara Zagora residents and guests of the City of Lime Trees can see an exhibition /located on 15 double panels/ with selected collage photos that illustrate the rise of the ballet company of the State Opera Stara Zagora in recent years (2016-2020). Exceptions are a few panels that recall steps from the long creative path of ballet art in Stara Zagora.
The State Opera-Stara Zagora dedicated its 2019/2020 creative season to the respectable anniversary "70 years of ballet in Stara Zagora", and the celebrations began already in 2019 with the performance of the ballet "Chopeniana", whose premiere was presented on 5 December 2019 within the Festival of Opera and Ballet Art. The event was also celebrated with an accompanying retrospective exhibition on the development of professional ballet in Stara Zagora. The occasion was an incentive to organize, describe and digitize the archival ballet photo collection, which until now was in a scattered loose state. The current exposition in the Stara Zagora Art-Alley is a continuation of the theme with an emphasis on the achievements of the Stara Zagora Opera Ballet today.
It should be recalled that when Ognyan Draganov took over the leadership of the Stara Zagora State Opera as interim director in 2015, the ballet company numbered 15 people. In 2016, after winning the competition for director, he invited prima ballerina Silvia Tomova as artistic director of the ballet. Immediately, an international competition was announced to recruit ballet dancers and 20 people were approved at the very first audition. The interest for work grew with each successful project and today the ballet company employs 55 ballet dancers from all over the world, with dozens of applications for audition and appointment coming in all the time. Today, Stara Zagora has a full-blooded and already well-established ballet company with impressive soloists and an ensemble that can perform major classical titles and modern dance performances on its own.
The opening of the exhibition "70 Years of Stara Zagora Opera Ballet" is the first event that Stara Zagora Municipality and Stara Zagora State Opera are doing after the three-month period of isolation.
"As the director of the Stara Zagora State Opera, it is an honour for me to open an exhibition that bears the mark of this city and the work and efforts of many people. Not only to those who are on stage and behind the scenes, but also to the citizens of Stara Zagora who 95 years ago decided that they needed an opera theatre. And 70 years ago they built on this desire and a professional ballet company appeared in Stara Zagora" - This is what the director Ognyan Draganov said in his opening remarks at the opening of the exhibition.
"I would like to thank all those who have been following the flight of the Stara Zagora ballet company for 70 years now," said Ognyan Draganov. "The exhibition has been prepared by us with great love for all the citizens of Stara Zagora who decided that our city should be different from all the others in the region, that it should be significant and recognizable in our country and around the world. I am glad that for the last five years I have been the director of this opera theatre, which has its wonderful home provided by you, the citizens of Stara Zagora, through the Municipality of Stara Zagora. It has always stood behind this difficult choice of the citizens, because such an opera theatre, besides a building that can be a symbol of the city, has a huge troupe and activity, and it has its costs, which all of you Stara Zagora citizens support. And we are moving forward. It is no coincidence that in its first edition for 2020, the renowned magazine "Opernglass" reflected "the explosion of this little star" in Stara Zagora as a significant event on the firmament of all opera and ballet theatres in the world".
Ognyan Draganov pointed out that the ballet troupe of the Stara Zagora Opera has 55 young talented artists from nearly 20 countries of the world.
Last but not least, he thanked the Stara Zagora Municipality in the person of Mayor Zhivko Todorov, Deputy Mayor for Culture Milena Zheleva, the regional government, all the colleagues of the opera, his team, especially Sylvia Tomova, thanks to whom "the flight of this ballet became very high".
"The celebration of the 70th anniversary of our ballet began back in 2019. We have dedicated the entire season to this event, said Silvia Tomova. "The first production was "The Doll Fairy" to music by Bayer, choreographed by the great Ana Vorobyova. We also dedicated "Chopeniana" to the holiday. We were ready with "Sleeping Beauty". We made the last gesture together with our choreographer Andrei Bosov from St. Petersburg and the same day they declared the state of emergency.
Our season "70 Years" will continue for a long time and we will realize all our plans: "Sleeping Beauty", "Triptych" with Vladimir Angelov from the USA, Christian Bakalov from France and Kaloyan Boyadzhiev from Norway; "Thracian Mysteries", choreography by Philip Milanov, music by Stanley Stanchev.
Sylvia Tomova stressed that the Bulgarian ballet is 90 years old and the Stara Zagora ballet is 70 years old. This is the second company created after the Sofia Ballet. Many performances by many famous choreographers have been performed and staged here.
Among the attendees was Snezhana Deskova - Honorary Citizen of Stara Zagora, who is part of the historical PA (step) of the ballet company.
"I am happy that we have such a beautiful ballet, and that they are doing beautiful classical productions, Deskova said. "Thank you to the extraordinary Sylvia Tomova who selects repertoire that is pure classical. For me this is the greatness of ballet!"
"The municipality will continue to support you as it has done every day, every month, every year, said Deputy Mayor Milena Zheleva in her welcome address. "I want to assure all of you from the company, led by Sylvia Tomova, to be calm, to continue to develop, to create, to make beauty. And we will support you with whatever we can. We look forward to seeing you again in the coming months, both on the open stages and in the halls in a few months. Be well! Take care and count on us! Happy holiday!" - wished Milena Zheleva.
At the end of the opening ceremony Ognyan Draganov invited the attendees and all Stara Zagora citizens to the upcoming Summer Music Evenings "Fresh Air for the Arts", which will be held at the Antique Forum "Augusta Traiana". There are more than 20 events - ballets, performances and concerts. The culmination is on July 1, 2020, when 95 years ago on this day the first opera performance in the city of the opera "Gergana" by maestro Georgi Atanasov was presented. In the concert-performance will participate the whole opera-ballet troupe, choir, DYSSOB "Margaritki" and the stars Vesselina Katsarova, Kamen Chanev, Julian Konstantinov, Alexander Krunev, Emilia Ivanova, Rusalina Mochukova, Elena Barumova, Ivaylo Djurov and Daniela Nineva.
The history of the Stara Zagora Opera Ballet begins with the establishment of the oldest opera theatre outside the capital in 1925. The year 1949 is considered to be the birth year of the ballet, when the first ballet production "The Doll Fairy" was staged on the stage of the theatre. For 70 years the Stara Zagora Ballet has gone through its highs and lows, only to experience its revival in the last 3-4 years.
The first public appearance of the ballet in Stara Zagora was with the premiere of the opera "Gergana" by Maestro Georgi Atanasov in 1925, which established the opera company in the city. For this purpose, the teacher at the Girls' High School, Yosif Stoilov, prepared eight female students from the Girls' Pedagogical School. Nearly two decades later, in 1943, Katya L. Abadjieva prepared the dances in the opera "Biljana" by Yosko Yossifov. The troupe's first choreographer with special training was Anna Vorobyova. Under her direction the dances in "Sold Bride", "Rigoletto", "Carmen" were staged. The first independent ballet performance "The Doll Fairy" by Bayer (1949) was realized under her direction, as well as "Coppelia" (1951). In the period 1952-1955, Assen Manolov staged The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, Rivals, Invitation to a Dance and Bolero. A little later, Teodorina Stoycheva realized the ballet "Kardjali" by Ivan Dimov. With the appointment of Nedelcho Izov as permanent balletmaster and the increase in the number of the troupe to meet the needs of the new modern building of the Opera (1971).), the realization of larger-scale classical titles became possible - "Copelia" (1971) directed by Dimitar Tsenov, "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray" by Boris Asafiev (1972) - a diploma work by one of the most outstanding figures of contemporary choreography in Bulgaria, Margarita Arnaudova, She also staged Abraxas (1975), The Creation of the World (1974), Cinderella and Firebird (1979), the triptychs Night of Midsummer, Equinox and Night on the Naked Peak (1983). Among the guest choreographers, the Georgian artist and ballet master Vakhtang Chabukiani stands out, who staged Laurencia (1976) and Don Quixote (1984). Berlin Ballet director Gerhard Petzold also steered the repertoire in the direction of jazz dance technique. Under his direction, three ballet miniatures were realised: Rhapsody in Blue, Bolero and Sailors on the Shore (1987). Igor Chernyshov of the Kuibyshev Opera Theatre (now Samara) also worked with the ballet company, staging the ballet Angara (1987) by the contemporary Russian composer Andrei Eshlai and to a libretto by Yuri Grigorovich. After 1991, due to the burning of the opera house, the opportunities for development of the ballet company were severely limited. Penka Filipova (1996-2003) directed the repertoire towards contemporary musical styles. The preference is for free plastic. Alida Boneva1 (2003 - 2016) filled the ballet company with young performers from the ballet schools in the city and from the ballet class formed at the National School of Music and Performing Arts "Hr. Morfova. During this period the productions "The Wonderful World of Scheherazade" (2004), "Bolero" (2006), "Cinderella" (2016) and an adaptation of "The Nutcracker" (2009) with guest director Boryana Sechanova stand out.
With the attraction of Sylvia Tomova as artistic director of the Stara Zagora Ballet (2016) a talented and highly motivated multinational troupe with ballet dancers from Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Albania, Greece, Portugal, Canada, Spain, Great Britain, Japan, Taiwan, Nicaragua, Mexico is taking shape. Each successive production is a testament to the growth of the artists and a celebration, a fairyland of colour, a celebration of beauty and harmony for performers and audience alike. The repertoire is enriched with titles from different dance and musical styles "Delvata" (2016), "Romeo and Juliet" and "Flight to the Light", "Swan Lake", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (2017); "Winter's Tale Ballet", "The Fantastic Boutique", "Nestinarka" and "Don Quixote" (2018/2019), "The Nutcracker", "Ghetto", contemporary dance performances "Dance at Sunrise", "Lotus", "The Following", "Antigone" (2019). On 5 December 2020, the premiere of the ballet "Chopeniana" choreographed by Mikhail Fokine took place. No less impressive are the Ballet's appearances in operas, operettas and musicals with specially choreographed numbers and ballets that not every opera house can afford. It is important to note Sylvia Tomova's vivid dance choreography with the participation of the entire ballet company in the performance of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, as well as in the neo-romantic opera Sissy-the Empress's Soul choreographed by Joanna Vlaguli. Stars from the world ballet poster guest in performances of the Stara Zagora Ballet Company - Mariinsky Theatre soloists Tatiana Tkachenko and Ivan Oskorbin in "Swan Lake" /FOBI 2017/, on 15 October the ballet season 2019/2020 was opened with the performance of the ballet "Swan Lake" with the participation of the star of the Vienna Staatsoper Denis Tcherevichko. On 17 December 2019, star soloists Yana Salenko and Marianne Walter /Statesballet-Berlin/ performed the leading roles in the ballet Don Quixote on the stage of Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture.
Photos Rad Dimitrov
