At a modest ceremony hosted by the Royal Opera House in London, the Bulgarian Ambassador to UK Konstantin Dimitrov conferred a jubilee gold medal on behalf of the Ministry of Culture. It was received by the Opera’s director.

Rather businesslike and formal at first glance, the event was actually symbolic. In the first place, the medal at the centre of the event has been named after the great Bulgarian basso Boris Christoff (1914-1993). And, the meeting’s attendance, apart from Ambassador Dimitrov and Covent Garden Chief Executive Alex Beard, included another ambassador: of the Bulgarian music culture in London and across the globe, the concertmaster of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Vasko Vassilev.

The Boris Christoff gold medal is conferred for merits in the promotion of Bulgarian culture and for participation in the worldwide events marking the 100th birth anniversary of the celebrated Bulgarian opera singer in 2014. More from Alex Beard:

“We were delighted to be approached to contribute to a documentary celebrating the 100th anniversary of Boris Christoff’s birth. We took the film production to our historic costume center in Dover and showed some of the costumes that Boris wore in such iconic roles as Boris Godunov, King Philip II, Simon Boccanegra etc. and talked about the great affection with which Boris Christoff was held by audiences at Covent Garden.”

Most probably, the experience of touching one of the costumes of the charismatic singer is very special, as it is shown in the biographical film about him, A Letter from Tuscany. In the early 1940s the phenomenal basso left to study singing in Italy. Because of his silent antagonism with the communist regime, he was denied the honour to sing on stage the Sofia Opera House. In contrast, Boris Christoff had a soft spot for Covent Garden. His debut there was in 1949 cast as Boris Godunov in the opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky, a part that the talented Bulgarian sang in Russian contrary to an established tradition.

What is the symbolism of the Boris Christoff gold medal for the Royal Opera House?

“Well, it is a great honour: he was one of the greatest stars in the world of opera in the second half of 20 c. He performed on the Covent Garden stage for more than 30 years and he was an international figure. So, to have his relationship with Covent Garden celebrated and communicated with this medal is a very great honor indeed.”

In fact, the Bulgarian connection at Covent Garden continues to the present day:

“Bulgaria as a country has always produced wonderful music talent. Our concertmaster Vasko Vassilev is of course Bulgarian and he was the youngest concertmaster in the Royal Opera House’s history when he joined it some 20 years ago at age 23. And he is right in the heart of orchestra. Also, there are many great singers from Bulgaria performing today. In May we are delighted to welcome Sonya Yoncheva to our stage when she will sing Violetta from La traviata. So it is a continuing relationship of Bulgarian musicians with the great houses of the world, and Covent Garden in particular.”