17 february 2023 Mood, Dynamics, Artistry And Splendor In "The Beautiful Elena"

The evening of February 17 turned into a festive one for those present in the hall of the Burgas State Opera.
Both audience and performers were subject to the mood created by the wonderfully inspired interpretation of the comic opera Хубавата Елена / The Beautiful Elena, to the music of Jacques Offenbach, directed by Assoc. Dr. Alexander Tekeliev and united by the skillful conductor's baton of maestro Deyan Pavlov.
The original staged reading, the humorous highlights nuanced with references to contemporary issues, and the magnificent performance of soloists, orchestra, choir, and ballet were a guaranteed prerequisite for two and a half hours of sincere laughter - as an antidote to the stress in the flow of everyday life.
"The Beautiful Elena" is a title that all singers, musicians, and dancers perform with undisguised pleasure.
And today's performance impressed me with its lavish extravagance - of colors and shades - in emotions, artistic techniques, beautiful costumes corresponding to the characters, make-up, wigs, and props.
The atmosphere of ancient Greek temples and the relationships between mortals and gods, as well as the symbolism of traditional ritualistic, were faithfully and with an intelligent wink recreated.
Those present at the performance in the Opera House were transported to the time before the Trojan War - as the dramatic historical moments were completely subordinated to their humorous aspect - extremely entertaining, and at the same time with a sense of proportion.
The Burgas audience had the opportunity to experience a masterfully presented show, created by the universal artistic energy of the conductor, soloists, orchestra, choir, and ballet.
All the soloists deserved sincere admiration: the wonderful mezzo-soprano Ioana Kadiyska - as Helen the Beautiful, the divine daughter of Leda and wife of the king of Sparta Menelaus - the role that suits her so well; in a wonderful stage partnership with her was the tenor Nikolay Motsov /guest/ - in the role of Paris, Prince of Troy: the baritone Yordan Hristozov - Menelaus, king of Sparta, the bass Diman Panchev - in the image of the priest Calchas; countertenor Dimitar Arnaudov  /guest/ – Orest.
All the other artists from the Burgas Opera had a dizzying stage presence: Miroslav Dimitrov - as the herald god Mercury, Lina Peeva Lina Peeva - the goddess of love Venus, Kalina Popova - Juno, queen of the Olympian gods, wife of Jupiter, patroness of marriage and family, Stefka Hristozova - Minerva, goddess of wisdom, science, crafts and war, and Bacchus, Helen's close servant; Ivan Grozev Ivan Grozev - as the king of kings Agamemnon, Kostadin Mechkov  - Achilles, Thessalian hero, king of Phtiotis, Milen Dinolov  - Ajax I, king of Salamis, Lubomir Todorov - Ajax II, king of Locrians, Nikolai Nikolov - Calchas Philocom's servant, Natalie Ivanova - as Laena, Iva Kavrkova - Parfenis.
The orchestra, under the masterful baton of Deyan Pavlov, with concertmaster Hristo Belchev, the choir - with choirmaster Nevena Mihaylova, and the ballet - with tutor Galina Kalcheva, were also at a high level of interpretative skill.
Congratulations for the overall quality look, sound, and organization of the large-scale performance also deserve the assistant director Petar Tiholov, as well as the employees of the technical services / Dimitar Peshev /, who took care of the unique atmosphere and professional completion in the details of each component of the large-scale stage production.
And another positive sign - among the audience there were dozens of students from the "Georgi Benkovski" Elementary School - Burgas, who showed not only interest in the visual-meaningful messages of the performance, but also appropriate behavior for a cultural event of a similar rank.
At the end of the emotional artistic evening, the traditional basket of flowers was presented on behalf of the Mayor of Burgas Municipality - Mr. Dimitar Nikolov.

Photos: State Opera - Burgas