21 march 2025 "Tosca" With a Remarkable Conductor And Artists On Monday

On Monday, March 24, at 7 p.m., the Burgas Opera will tell the tragic story of a fatal passion, fateful love, heartbreaking feelings, beautiful music, and a tragic ending with the performance of Giacomo Puccini’s musical-dramatic masterpiece “Tosca.” On Tuesday, an excellent solo ensemble, first-class conductor, orchestra, and choir will perform on the open stage. In 2024, the world’s cultural community celebrated the 100th anniversary of the death of the brilliant Italian composer. With Monday’s performance, we mark 125 years since the world premiere of one of Puccini’s most beloved operas, which took place in January 1900 in Rome.

On the stage of the Opera on March 24, beautiful music will sound, through which dramatic passions will be presented, building the tragic plot of "Tosca" in - with the antagonistic manifestations of love, with the power of pure feelings, opposing treachery and insidious plans.

Under the direction of Ivan Kozhuharov, an honorary citizen of Burgas, a sad story with a fatal ending will be told - an apotheosis of true feelings and unsurpassed dignity. The eminent Bulgarian conductor with a world career works out - skillfully, with great dedication and uncompromising professionalism, every detail of Puccini's fantastic score, to present a complete musical, artistic, aesthetic product - with soul and charge. The orchestra under his baton sounds magnificent, with remarkably built dynamics, following the logic of the dramaturgical line, and a tangible attitude to the messages of Puccini's amazing music.

The soloists of "Tosca" will be exceptional, weaving the emotional power of their voices into a single stream of affecting beauty. The choir and orchestra will complement the overall suggestion of tragic doom - through brilliantly presented accents and semantic-emotional amplitudes. The beautiful melody of Puccini's music will be "unfolded" - phrase by phrase, organically weaving the messages of the dramatic story with a fatal finale. The wave of feelings in the performance passes smoothly and in impulses, following the logical line, reaching those present - through the energy invested in the sound. The choir - both on stage and behind the curtain, sounds completely merged with the overall dramatic line, sculpting the monolithic appearance of the story, which, although taking place within a few days, carries all the nuances of deep psychologism.

In the role of the beautiful, proud, and upholding the strength of her feelings prima donna Floria Tosca, on March 24, the Burgas audience and guests of the city will have the pleasure of seeing and hearing the exceptional lyrical-dramatic soprano Yoana Zhelezcheva. Tosca is a relatively new role for the remarkable Bulgarian soprano - after her brilliant debut in December 2022, on the stage of the Burgas Opera. Zhelezcheva managed to breathe life and emotional power into the emblematic female image of opera, crowned for world primes such as Maria Callas and Raina Kabaivanska, and in the following performances - the last of which was in July with a full Summer Theater in Burgas. It is no exaggeration that it is Tosca that is emerging as the strongest image built by Zhelezcheva, who seems to open new spaces with her inimitable timbre and paints in them through the nuanced manifestations of her voice. On March 24, in the Opera Hall, the brilliant soprano will once again prove her class – as a bright stage presence, emotional fusion with the image, transformed through the entire depth of her artistic essence, through the brilliantly constructed nuances of the dramatic character, with the entire spectrum of feelings – from tender longing to the tragedy of the fatal choice. Filigreely constructed dynamics and beauty in the sculpting of the phrases, a rich timbre palette and finesse, combined with extraordinary power – a true Tosca, embodied in sound and overall image.

The entire soloist ensemble, which will present the dramatic plot of “Tosca” on Friday, is first-class. Under the baton of the chief conductor of the Burgas Opera Ivan Kozhuharov, on the stage of the State Opera on Monday, the following will appear: in the image of the artist Mario Cavaradossi, Tosca’s beloved, the tenor Kostadin Andreev /guest/, soloist of the Sofia Opera and Ballet. The Burgas audience knows the magnificent tenor well, having last seen him on the stage of the Summer Theater two years ago – as Samson in the opera “Samson and Delilah” by Camille Saint-Saëns. Kostadin Andreev also participated in the performances of “Samson and Delilah” and “Carmen” at the “Opera of the Sanctuary” festival 2023. He is a welcome guest on the Burgas stage, where he sang at the beginning of his remarkable artistic career.

Mario Cavaradossi has a free spirit, but a heart captivated by love – the two lovers are connected by a beautiful love, marked by tragedy and doom. The two distinguished singers are expected to enter into a stage harmony and recreate the dynamics of feelings and the tragic reflections of the beauty of their doomed love. And the famous Aria of Cavaradossi in the third act, which always, invariably, excites, will again be a long-awaited and emotional highlight of the opera evening on Monday.

The image of the merciless and relentless in his cruelty Baron Scarpia will be embodied by the renowned baritone Alexander Krunev. He is respectful in building the image of the unscrupulous villain, who pays with his life for his meanness, backed up by egocentrism and treachery. The famous Te Deum from the end of the First Act of the opera, in which Krunev will be the soloist, will again be a shaking emotional moment for all those present.

As the escaped prisoner Cesare Angelotti and former consul of the once-free Roman Republic, bass Diman Panchev appears on stage, presenting the character convincingly and with emotional depth. The entire artistic cast is wonderful - the characters of the Clerk and the Jailer are played by Kostadin Mechkov, bass, Spoleta, police agent, the tenor Yani Nikolov, Sharone - bass Petar Tiholov, Jailer - Ivan Grozev, Shepherd - Stefka Hristozova. The performance features the orchestra and choir of the State Opera - Burgas, as well as the wonderful singers from the Children's Choir "Milka Stoeva" with conductor Marieta Seklemova.

"Tosca" is directed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexander Tekeliev - with the staging searches emphasizing the deep study of human actions, the reasons that give rise to fateful decisions, as well as the power of our internal choices. The conductor of the choir is Alexander Chepanov, concertmaster – Vanya Zlateva.

The romantic storyline of “Tosca” is shocking with its tragic ending. The story is of two lovers – the beautiful, daring, burning with love and passion Floria Tosca and the talented artist Mario Cavaradossi – with a free spirit, but a heart captivated by love. Two souls who dared to oppose the cruel rules of a harsh world. Their pure love is under the cruel shadow of the powerful villain, from whom all of Rome trembles – Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police in the Eternal City. Synchronously with the stage action and plot logic, the stage effects alternate – video mapping, recreating different stages of the dramatic experiences of the characters and the symbolism of suffering, as well as the lighting, enhancing the emotional resonance generated by the tragic events. The thematically and meaningfully selected multimedia is also appropriate and complements the visual image of the performance.

The performance of "Tosca" is expected to be a cultural event for the city again - both in quality and in the strength of the emotional charge, as the opera by Puccini will not simply be presented, sung, played, but felt and experienced - through the messages and emotions of the wonderful artists and musicians. The audience will be initiated into a mystery that contains the dimensions of the purest parameters of Love and Sacrifice, following the dramatic line of the plot, revealing a very short segment of time for the characters, but containing the entire spectrum of experiences, shocking with their tragic denouement. There is hardly a person who would not be moved by the drama of two souls who dared to oppose the cruel canons of a harsh world.