23 july 2021 Carmina Burana and the premiere of Pahita on Sunday

On Sunday evening, July 25, at 8.30 pm, two wonderful works will be presented on the stage of the Summer Theater - Burgas - the majestic-sounding and impressive with its power on the senses and mind stage cantata "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff and the second premiere title for this year for the troupe of the Burgas Opera - "Pahita" by Ludwig Minkus. The event is another from the calendar of the Burgas Music Festival "Emil Chakarov", successfully implemented this year by the State Opera - Burgas, in partnership with the Municipality of Burgas.

Carmina Burana is one of the most famous and performed works in the world's musical treasury. The leitmotif of the stage cantata is a philosophical interpretation of difficult transitions from youth to maturity. The work is inspired by the original text of "Carmina Burana" - a group of itinerant preachers who came to the conclusion that the world is not governed by the moral principles that were taught to them. Then they create a circle of people who follow the rules of virtue and dive fully and with passion into a life subject to hedonism - the search for pleasure and existence through it. The plot develops ideas born of the imagination of these young people. The Gothic myth is recreated on the iconic music of Carl Orff. The theme of Evil and the symbolism associated with its influence on human souls is developed in the storyline, which presents a society corroded by sin, without fear of retribution from above. The points are wine, women, entertainment, revelry, search for more and more stimuli that provoke the senses. The irony and parody of the clichés are characteristic of the plot of the cantata. Carmina Burana is a syncretic work in which music, dance, and impressive scenography merge into a single whole. The 25 songs in the cantata are by unknown authors - troubadours from the Middle Ages and are grouped into three sections: about spring, wine, and love, thus uniting the main aspects of human existence. The most famous song in the cantata is "Oh, Fortuna!", Which sounds in a number of productions of the Seventh Art and is a preferred musical background for various events - to give a complete dramatic nuance to the perception.

On Sunday, more than 100 performers will perform on the stage of the Summer Theater - soloists, orchestra, choir, and ballet of the State Opera - Burgas. The verses of medieval poets, which served as the basis of the cantata, will be performed by the soloists - Maria Tsvetkova-Madzharova, soprano, Dimitar Arnaudov, countertenor, and Alexander Krunev - baritone. The parties of all three soloists go beyond the conventional notions of the limits of the human voice and are a real challenge for the performers, and for the audience - an incomparable aesthetic bonus. The conductor of the performance is maestro Ivan Kozhuharov, and the directing, impressive with philosophical interpretation and depth, is by Darina Glavanakova-Bakardzhieva, the artist is Maria Trendafilova, the choreography is by Zhelka Tabakova, the conductor of choirs is Nevena Mihaylova, the concertmaster is Vanya Zanya. the director of the production is Lina Peeva.

The other highlight of the program of the event from the calendar of the Burgas Music Festival is the premiere of the ballet "Paqita" by Ludwig Minkus, choreographed by Marius Petipa. The production is by Galina Kalcheva. Maestro Ivan Kozhuharov is again behind the conductor's desk, Vanya Zlateva is the concertmaster, and Petar Tiholov is the assistant director. Soloists and an ensemble of the ballet of the State Opera - Burgas take part in the ballet performance.

"Paqita is a classic ballet work that I especially like," says Galina Kalcheva, who played in the production of "Pahita" by the famous Russian ballerina and choreographer Lyubov Fominikh on the Burgas stage years ago. "On Sunday, separate variations of the work will be performed on the stage of the Summer Theater, which best show the mastery of the artists. "Paqita" is a very appropriate title for maintaining the shape of the ballet troupe, "adds Kalcheva.

 

Tickets for the event can be found at the box office of the Opera, at the box office "Clock" / in front of the hotel "Bulgaria" /, as well as in the networks of Grabo and Eventim, as well as in the links to the events in the program: https://operabourgas.com/ bg/program in the official site of the State Opera - Burgas.

IMPORTANT:

According to the requirements of the Ministry of Health, the allowable capacity of presence in the Summer Theater is 50%.

 

IVAN KOZHUHAROV - Chief Conductor of the State Opera - Burgas

Born in 1950 in the town of Tryavna. At the age of 9, he began to play the violin. Later he switched to viola because he wanted to form a quartet, and no one in the city knew this instrument.

He graduated from the Secondary Music School with a degree in Viola, Prof. Veselin Stoyanov ”in Ruse. He studied for two years at the Bulgarian State Conservatory/today the National Academy of Music - Sofia, Faculty of Theory, viola with Prof. Alexander Neynski, and choral conducting with Prof. Vasil Arnaudov.

Since 1971 he has been studying Opera and Symphony Conducting as a student of the professors: Sherman, Robinovich, Arvid, and Maris Jansons, at the State Conservatory “N. A. Korsakov ”, St. Petersburg, Russia, graduating in 1976 as a graduate. His graduation performance of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro was filmed by Soviet television in Moscow. During his studies, he worked for one season at the Leningrad Theater of Musical Comedy - Opera, with which he toured in cities of Russia and Estonia, and taught at the Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinema. His military service took place in SHPZO - Vratsa, and then as a conductor of the Representative Ensemble of BNA - Sofia. As a soldier, he started working at the State Opera - Burgas, where he was appointed, after his dismissal from the army, in 1978. There he staged the operas "The Magic Flute" and "The Wedding of Figaro" by Mozart, "Rigoletto" and "Othello" by Verdi, "Porgy and Bess" by Gershwin, "Village Honor" by Maskani, and the ballets "The Three-Topped Hat" by Manuel De Faia and "Romeo and Juliet" by Sergei Prokofiev. In 1985 he moved to the State Philharmonic - Burgas, where he was, successively, conductor, chief artistic director and director. Enriches the orchestra's repertoire with works by Bruckner, Mahler / all symphonies, including the spectacular Eighth Symphony - with two orchestras, five people, and eight soloists - all over 320 people /, Onager, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and others. When the OFD was established, in 1999 he was its music director, after its dissolution and transformation, in 2008 - the conductor was the chief conductor of the Opera. For a short time, he worked in OFD - Ruse.In 1979 he was a semi-finalist in the competition of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in West Berlin, and in 1980 he was a laureate and winner of the Grande Prix in the name of Bella Bartok from the Third International Competition for Conductors of Hungarian Television in Budapest. The following year he starred in a film dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the composer, produced by television in the United States, Canada, and Hungary. He has conducted all Bulgarian opera houses and symphony orchestras / excluding Pazardzhik /, all Hungarian symphony orchestras, as well as those in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Serbia. Works at the National Opera Theaters in Sofia, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, and Skopje, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestras and Philharmonic Orchestras in Sofia, Bratislava / Slovenia /, Cairo / Egypt /, Havana / Cuba /, Nicosia / Cyprus /, the Orchestra of Czech Radio in Prague, the Presidential Orchestra in Ankara / Turkey /, the State Orchestra in Thessaloniki / Greece /. From 1999 to 2001 he was the conductor of the State Opera in Izmir / Turkey /, with which he participated in the festival in Aspendos. At the same time, he conducted the Mersin Opera. In 2005 he worked in the Prima La Musika orchestra in Ghent / Belgium /, with which he participated in the Flemish Festival. Since 1997 he has been regularly conducting the two orchestras of the State Philharmonic “D. D. Shostakovich ”in St. Petersburg, with whom he toured in various cities in Russia. With the Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra he visited France and, repeatedly, Italy and Spain, and with the Opera - in Germany and Switzerland, with the operas "Troubadour", "Othello", "Falstaff" and Quattro Pezzi Sacri by Verdi, and at the festival on the island Rhodes - Greece with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Verdi's Requiem. In Spain, he toured at the head of the Plovdiv Philharmonic, and in Italy - with the Plovdiv Opera / "Aida" by Verdi /. Together with Arts Academy - Rome conducts conducting courses in Burgas and Anzio, Italy. In 2005 he worked in the Prima la Musika orchestra in Ghent / Belgium /, with which he participated in the Flemish Festival. He has conducted a New Chamber Ensemble in Camerata classica, Sofia, with which he recorded a series of CDs for DIVERRIMENTO - Vienna. He recorded film music for SIF - 309 in the First Studio of the Bulgarian National Radio - Sofia and for Digital Records - Rome, with the London Symphony Orchestra in the famous Abbey Road studio in London. Holder of the Order of Cyril and Methodius - II degree, three Golden Lyres, and Crystal Lyre of CMTDB for the production of "Countess Maritsa" in DMT "Stefan Makedonski". Honorary citizen of Burgas.