22 august 2022 Ilina Mihaiyova&Dobromir Momekov In "The Barber of Seville

After the great success of the performances of "The Barber of Seville" on the stage of Burgas - in a completely new reading by the director Assoc. Dr. Alexander Tekeliev, the set designer and costume designer Denis Ivanov and the conductor-director Maestro Ivan Kozhuharov, a performance of the most famous is coming for the second time comic opera by Gioacchino Rossini on the stage of the Summer Theater - Burgas, after the performance on July 7, also within the Burgas Music Festival "Emil Chakerov" 2022. The performance of Rossini's most cheerful opera is on August 24 at 8:30 p.m. on the outdoor stage in Primorski Park. Last year's premiere of "The Barber of Seville", scheduled for August 23 on the same stage, was postponed due to objective reasons. The premiere was successful with a full hall /at the then permissible capacity of 50%/ - on October 8, 2021, and a second premiere, also with expected success - on October 26 - in the hall of the Burgas Opera House. Performances followed in December 2021, April, and July 2021 - all of which passed with interest from the audience curious about innovative directors and scenographers.

It is an indisputable truth that we live in interesting times, art, placed in an unusual situation for more than two years, has managed to prove that it is flexible, resilient, steadfast, and invincible. And the performances of "The Barber of Seville" confirmed it. The production has already gathered the necessary momentum - in the positive sense, with the individual elements coming together like well-crafted parts of a complex machine. After the euphoria of the premiere performances, subsequent performances brought smoothing of details, adjustment of the components of stage interaction, maturity and confidence.

The "Iron Baton" of conductor-director maestro Ivan Kozhuharov will once again lead the orchestras of the State Opera - Burgas, in an extraordinary adventure of combining the classical musical text and libretto with the innovative and conceptual directorial reading, which seems to decipher the codes of the modern-day job. After the spectacular success of the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet, with which the "Opera of the Sanctuary" festival of Begliktash was closed - on August 20, maestro Kozhuharov will once again subject to his creative charge the energy of all performers - soloists, choir and orchestra, and we expect it to create a performance saturated with fresh emotion - in gradation. The concertmaster of the wonderfully balanced and precise in interpretation of Rossini's complex score orchestra will be Hristo Belchev.

An honor for the Burgas stage and audience is once again the artistic stage charm and brilliant vocal mastery of the soprano Ilina Mihailova /guest/, who sang on the same stage with José Carreras and other world opera stars. The charismatic singer presented herself as an artistic fury at the premiere performance of "The Barber of Seville" on October 8 and December 11, 2021 - she was subtle, catchy, charming, famous Rozina / in the innovative version of Prof. Alexander Tekeliev - a passionate fan of Marilyn Monroe / who presents the part characterized by extreme technical difficulty with the ease of the great masters, constructing the musical line with filigree precision, inner gradation and elegant mastery of his voice, the whole vocal charm being combined with gushing artistry and natural stage charm. We expect her to charm the audience with her beauty and professionalism on the stage of the Summer Theater.

In the role of Figaro - the most famous barber in the artistic world, the attractive baritone Dobromir Momekov /guest/ will perform for the first time in the new production of Prof. Tekeliev. What is different about the image in the production is the completely new interpretation of the character - in the style of the King of Rock Elvis Presley and the hippie culture of the 70s of the XX century. After graduating from the Music Academy in Sofia, Dobromir Momekov specialized in the Arena di Verona Academy. Since 2005, he has been studying with the renowned bass player Nikola Guselev. Momekov has sung on huge international podiums – Festspiel Salzburg, the Strasbourg Opera, and the National Opera of Albania. He has toured a large number of theaters in North America. His repertoire includes the most popular works of Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, and Donizetti. He is the winner of the international "Nikola Gyuzelev" award for 2021.

Tenor Nikolay Motsov /guest/, who performed brilliantly during all previous performances, appears again - for the sixth time - in the image of Count Almaviva on the stage of the Burgas Opera. Nikolay Motsov recently defended the title of "professor" in his academic career. The artist achieves a "tamed" emotion and works out the details in the image. The humorous role is enriched with various nuances and thoughts, with intriguing variations of the plays in the individual stage moments. The tenor presents an intriguing Count /Sheikh/ Almaviva - in an unusual but super-slowed role, passing through different states of mind.

Bass singer Kostadin Mechkov is once again in the titillating image of Doctor Bartolo – with guild ossified understandings and insidious goals towards the beautiful Rozina. The soloist of the Burgas Opera presents himself convincingly - both as an artistic emotion and as a vocal construction of the role. Bass Delyan Slavov will play the role of the music teacher Don Basilio, who harnesses all sorts of slanderous schemes in the plot development, and the image is one of the most attractive in the production and causes genuine laughter. Soprano Nona Krastnikova will once again build with intelligent stage presence and wonderfully controlled voice the humorous character of the defiant housekeeper Bertha, who has an affinity for wine and men... and something else. The baritone Yordan Hristozov enters the images of Fiorello and the Officer. The baritone is crisp and genuinely smile-inducing – both as the 70s-style "hippie" Fiorello and as the stern enforcer of order in the sympathetic mess created by the characters.

The conductor of the choir is Nevena Mihaylova. In the production of "The Barber of Seville", the choir performs, as always, at a height - both as a complete sound and as a precise presentation of individual images - each of the members has an intriguing individual artistic task, woven into the general director's idea and mise-en-scène. The assistant directors of the large-scale production with original stage solutions are Lina Peeva and Petar Tiholov, and the piano recitatives during the performance are performed by Mira Iskarova.

Soloists, orchestra, and choir are now perfectly fused parts of one indivisible whole. Every detail of the production is in its place in the inextricably linked component, combining the immortal music, the entertaining libretto, the dizzying directorial decisions, the mind- and sense-challenging scenography, the stunning costumes - made in the style of the 70s of the XX century, the magnificent overall sound and the overall vision of the performance. The audience at the Burgas Summer Theater on Wednesday will surely feel the mood of everyone involved in the musical-scenic-social-psychological experiment. The artists will not only present art but also experience it - with flair, passion, and creative dedication.

On August 24th at 8:30 p.m. in the Summer Theater of Burgas, the following are guaranteed: wonderful music, dizzying direction, amazing scenography, super funny situations, first-class soloists, conductor, orchestra and choir, and, of course, lots and lots of laughter! A contemporary tale will be told through the means of social satire - highly entertaining, but also very instructive, with a bitter flavor of current findings. It is amazing how the libretto (not a single word has been changed from the original text) synchronizes with today's messages. In addition to spontaneous laughter, those present will also unobtrusively get reasons for a lot of thoughts - about painful topics of the present day...

The production is not recommended for persons under 12 years of age!

 

Tickets for Rossini's comic opera "The Barber of Seville" can be purchased at the box office of the Opera House, the "Chasovnika" box office /in front of the "Bulgaria" hotel/, at the Summer Theater box office - before the performance, as well as at the Grabo and Eventim networks.