12 october 2023 The Second Edition Of The"Stoyan Popov" Competition Is Coming Up
After the undisputed success and wide media coverage of the first edition. Which was held in October 2022, the Second National Competition for Young Opera Singers "Stoyan Popov" with international participation will be held from October 17 to 21, 2023 in the hall of the State Opera - Burgas.
In the same time period, in 2022, the first edition of the competition was held, in which 46 young opera singers from 8 countries took part. The forum took place at a highly professional level and undoubtedly provided a request for one of the most significant events in the cultural calendar of the seaside city. The large-scale forum was realized with the financial support of the National Fund "Culture" under the "Program for the Restoration and Development of State, regional and municipal cultural institutes".
The upcoming event, which is expected to once again gather a galaxy of young talented singers in the hall of the Burgas Opera House, is also this year taking place with the assistance of the Municipality of Burgas. The patron of the competition is the great Bulgarian baritone, who has sung with many years of success on our and world stages - Stoyan Popov. In addition to the stage, maestro Popov has dedicated more than 20 years to the cause of helping young colleagues, teaching them vocal technique and interpretation, and through his contacts and acquaintances at home and abroad, he has also been able to help their professional realization. His unfulfilled dream remained the creation of studios for young opera singers, where they could develop and improve their talent and vocal and acting skills.
"The idea of a competition in his name originates precisely from his innermost desire - with thought and care for the young generation, to continue the dignified presence of Bulgarian opera artists on world stages," says Assoc. Professor Alexander Tekeliev, who was his student and is the initiator of the creation of a contest named after Stoyan Popov, whose first edition last year proved that the idea was constructive and successful. In a contested competition, the laureates of the First Stoyan Popov Competition 2022 were: mezzo-soprano Ioana Kadiyska - Bulgaria, and baritone Mateusz Michalowski - Poland. As part of the award, Mateusz Michalovski and Victoria Melnyk (Ukraine) participated in a performance of the opera "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi - in February of this year, on the stage of the State Opera - Burgas, in a brilliant partnership with the soloists of the Burgas Cultural institute, under the baton of the great Bulgarian conductor Ivan Kozhuharov.
This year, the "Stoyan Popov" competition will also be held in two rounds, during which the candidates will perform on the stage of the Opera House with piano accompaniment. The competition program of the Second National Competition with international participation "Stoyan Popov" will be presented by the young opera singers to the jury on October 18 and 19 in the hall of the State Opera - Burgas - from 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., respectively, as public entry is free. The day before the competition program - on October 17, at 6 p.m., the opening of the exhibition dedicated to the life and creative path of maestro Stoyan Popov will be held in the lobby of the Opera House, and the draw for the order of appearance at the competition will be drawn. The registration of the participants in the II NATIONAL COMPETITION FOR OPERA SINGERS "STOIAN POPOV" will be immediately before the official opening of the exhibition "Stoyan Popov at 90". - at 6 p.m. tomorrow, October 17, in the lobby of the Opera House.
A list of participants in the competition program will be published on the website of the Burgas State Opera:
https://operabourgas.com/en/stoyan-popov/competition-stoian-popov-2023
The final gala evening of the laureates with the orchestra of the State Opera - Burgas and the official closing of the competition will be on October 21 at 7 p.m., accompanied by the orchestra of the State Opera - Burgas - on the birthday of maestro Stoyan Popov. The conductor of the solemn gala evening will be maestro Grigor Palikarov, who is also a member of the jury and was behind the console at last year's gala concert, which turned into a memorable high-ranking cultural event. During the summer season, he conducted with great success in front of a large international audience the performance of the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet - on the third night of the "Opera of the Sanctuary" festival on the open stage of the Thracian rim of Begliktash. In the gala concert on October 21, the laureates of the competition will perform with the orchestra of the State Opera - Burgas one or two arias from their competition program, determined by the jury after the II round.
Dozens of young opera singers (Bulgarian and foreign) - men and women - entered the competition, with the age limit being 37 years.
The first and second rounds will be accompanied by a piano - on the big stage in the hall of the State Opera - Burgas. On the I round - October 18, the candidates will perform a song or aria of their choice by a Bulgarian composer and an aria of their choice by a Slavic composer. In the II round, the participants in the competition will present an aria of their choice /different from those performed in the I round/ and an aria from an opera by the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.
An authoritative jury will evaluate the young talents, and this year for the first time only Prof. Dr. Toni Shekerdzhieva-Novak will be in its composition. The great Bulgarian tenor with an international career, Kaludi Kaludov, who also successfully works as a vocal teacher, has been invited by the organizers to be the chairman of the jury. Members of the jury are: Prof. Niko Isakov - opera singer, baritone, dean of the Vocal Faculty at the National Academy of Music
Prof. "Pancho Vladigerov" - Sofia; Prof. Dr. Toni Shekerdzhieva-Novak - Rector of AMTI "Prof. Asen Diamandiev", distinguished opera and chamber singer, vocal pedagogue; Prof. Dr. Grigor Palikarov - conductor, chief artistic director of the Symphony Orchestra - Pazardzhik; Ognyan Draganov - opera director, director of the State Opera - Stara Zagora, Associate Professor Dr. Alexander Tekeliev - opera director, director of the State Opera - Burgas.
Six prizes will be awarded - three for women and three for men, and the winners of the first prize will receive the right to participate in a performance at the Burgas Opera House. Half of the prize fund is provided with the financial assistance of the Municipality of Burgas.
Details about the conditions of the competition and patron Stoyan Popov:
https://operabourgas.com/bg/stoyan-popov
Entrance to the exhibition dedicated to Stoyan Popov, as well as the two days of the competition program /18 and 19 October/ are free, and the public will have the opportunity to take seats on the balcony in the hall of the Burgas Opera House.
Tickets for the gala concert can be purchased at the box office of the Opera House, the "Chasovnika" box office /opens on Saturdays as well/, as well as on the Eventim network - https://www.eventim.bg/bg/bileti/drzhavna-opera-burgas- zala-opera-burgas-1373263/performance.html
For the contest sponsor:
The world-famous opera singer Stoyan Popov was born on October 21, 1933, in the village of Momina Church, Burgas region. The famous baritone comes from a priestly family and was brought up in faith in the values of Christianity and virtue, patriotism, and respect for Bulgarian traditions. It is from Burgas that his remarkable journey as an artist, who has recognition far beyond the borders of his homeland, begins. Maestro Stoyan Popov graduated from the Bulgarian State Conservatory in the class of Prof. Hristo Brambarov. Even as a student, he was awarded a gold medal at the World Youth Festival in Helsinki. It has been called the "Voice Cathedral" by French music critics and the "Bulgarian Tito Gobi". His tours on the world opera stages receive evaluations such as "exceptional Macbeth", "unsurpassed interpreter of Scarpia" and others. As a long-time soloist of the National Opera and Ballet, he performed central roles in operas by Verdi ("Rigoletto", "Nabucco", "The Troubadour", "Macbeth", "Aida", "Othello", "Falstaff", "Hernani", "The Traviata",); Puccini ("Tosca"); Bizet ("Carmen"); Tchaikovsky ("Lady of Spades"); Mussorgsky ("Khovanshchyna", "Boris Godunov") and many others. Honored with the title "Camerzenger" of Austria /1982. He has partnered on the same stage with world singers such as Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Giacomo Aragal, José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus, Petar Dvorsky, Elena Obraztsova, Renata Scotto, etc. There are dozens of his performances with partners such as Raina Kabaivanska, Gena Dimitrova, Alexandrina Milcheva, Anna Tomova-Sintova, Nikola Nikolov, Nikolay Gyaurov, Nikola Gyuzelev, and many more stars from the Bulgarian opera firmament.
His repertoire contains over 50 central baritone parts performed in opera houses on 3 continents with great success. There are hundreds of songs performed by him, as well as cantata-oratorio and vocal-symphonic works.
In Bulgaria, Stoyan Popov sings not only in the Sofia Opera. He is also a frequent guest on the stages of all non-capital opera houses.
The trajectory of Stoyan Popov's artistic path always starts from his homeland and invariably ends there. Although he repeatedly had offers and opportunities to choose where to live and create in the world, following his career path, he always returned to Bulgaria and shared that he misses Bulgaria, his relatives, friends, the atmosphere in our theaters, or generally speaking - everything Bulgarian.