Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Stage of the Ages Summer Opera Festival in Veliko Tarnovo – traditions live

Photo: library

Puccini's famous work – “Madame Butterfly" gives the start of this year's summer opera festival in the ancient town of Veliko Tarnovo - "Stage of the Ages." The cultural forum will take place in the period August 2-10. Organizers are the Veliko Turnovo Municipality and the Tsarevgrad Tarnov Municipal Tourist Agency in partnership with the Sofia Opera and Ballet.

Daniel Panov, Mayor of the Veliko Tarnovo Municipality told us more:

"The idea for organizing Stage of the Ages was born in 1985 on the occasion of national celebrations of the 800th anniversary of establishing the Second Bulgarian Kingdom. "Ivaylo" by Marin Goleminov was the first performance presented by the Sofia Opera. Its director was Plamen Kartalov. In 2008 the festival was restored in relation to the 100th anniversary of the Independence of Bulgaria. Since then this opera and ballet festival has been taking place in Velko Tarnovo every year. Under the open sky on Tsarevets guests enjoy the performances part of the program of "Stage of the Ages." This year the event is an important part of Tarnovo’s application for European Capital of Culture 2019. The municipality sees this as an opportunity to develop festival tourism. In the audience there will be guests from Romania, Greece, Russia, Israel, and England. Our goal is the festival to start taking place in the whole of August and not to last just for a period of 10 days. The project we are currently working on is related to cooperation between outdoor opera festivals. We have initiated the establishment of an association of cities that organize similar forums. Along with Italian "Arena di Verona", there are such open-air opera festivals in Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Savonlinna /Finland / etc. We have already established contacts with some of their organizers. I am convinced this network will provide unique opportunities to directors and artists.”

The festival stage is once again situated on a historic site - the ancient palace of Bulgarian kings. More about "Stage of the Ages 2014" from Tsvetomir Boyadziev, manager of the municipal travel agency "Tsarevgrad Tarnov:"

"This year's program is rich. Traditionally we used to have three performances but now their number is 5. On August 2 and 3rd guests will enjoy "Madame Butterfly." Two ballet nights follow after that with "Giselle" and "Zorba the Greek." During the weekend (August 9-10) the one-act operas Cavalleria rusticana and Gianni Schicchi will be performed. These operas enjoy great interest among the audience in Sofia and I hope they will be well-received by the audience in Tsarevets. In addition to the main program of "Stage of the Ages" there are other cultural events. People can see retrospective screenings of performances from previous editions of the festival. The meetings of the soloists of the Sofia Opera with their fans held in the lapidarium of the Archaeological Museum have also become a tradition. We also have "Backstage Tour, which lets lovers of this art have the opportunity to peek behind the stage and see how performances are organized. During the days of the festival the traditional "Sound and Light Show," which residents and guests to the city have enjoyed for the past 30 years, will also take place. The show has not lost its appeal over the years and it has actually turned into a trademark of the city.”

English: Alexander Markov



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Iskrena Yordanova – a distinguished musician who has dedicated her heart to Baroque music

For thirty years now, Bulgarian violinist Iskrena Yordanova has been living in Lisbon. Everything she does as a musician is related to Baroque music. She has devoted much of her time to discovering ancient manuscripts, which she brings back to life with..

published on 11/6/24 10:44 AM

Kottarashky with 2 events in Berlin: a premiere of the film Balkan Black Box and a concert

Kottarashky is one of the most intriguing musicians to have appeared on the Bulgarian music scene in the first decade of the 21 st century. The man behind the stage name is Nikola Gruev, and his work is an ongoing genre-blending experiment. He is..

published on 11/5/24 8:23 AM

A concert of Japanese taiko drums group will delight music lovers in Sofia

Lovers of Japanese music will be able to enjoy a concert of traditional Japanese taiko drums performed by the band Wadaiko-Sai from Japan . The concert will be held in the capital's Bulgaria Hall at 7 p.m. as part of the Days of Japanese Culture in..

published on 11/5/24 5:05 AM