Opera in the Park Festival starts in Sofia
The century-old forest in the park of the Georgi Stoikov Rakovski Military Academy in Sofia is again the stage of the Opera in the Park Festival, organised by the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet, the Ministry of Defense and the Sofia Municipality. The event is under the auspices of Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova. The third edition of the festival started on June 10 with Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.
“The festival has created a new tradition for performing opera music outdoors", opera theatre director Plamen Kartalov explains. "The best thing is that no microphones are used. Attila by Giuseppe Verdi will be staged especially for the festival. We are also to stage the comedy The Elixir of Love, which is one the premiers in our 2011-2012 programme. We also aim to attract children and Little Red Riding Hood by Pancho Vladigerov will be part of the festival too.
The capacity of the stage is 550 guests. It is not much but I am glad that the citizens of Sofia show such a great interest in the initiative, Mr. Kartalov says.
The premiere of the opera Attila will be on June 22. Conductor will be Alessandro Sangiorgi from Italy. Deputy Sofia Mayor Todor Chobanov called the festival “an unique model for cooperation.” The project joined the efforts of the local authorities, the military academy and a leading cultural institution.
“This is a truly European festival. We continue to develop it and after opera and ballet, theatre plays will be staged too. The park itself is a very beautiful venue,” Mr. Chobanov says.
The Opera in the Park Festival will continue until July 6. Fans of ballet will enjoy not only Swan Lake but also Silfida and Zorba the Greek. Zorba the Greek is actually a title that has been part of the programme of the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet in the past 15 years.
Text and photo: bnr.bg
(14.06.2012)