"The artist must scrutinize the future and see new worlds in the chaos," said Giuseppe Verdi, one of the most influential Italian composers of the 19^th century. And although the opera plots tell stories of sublime feelings, of man's eternal pursuit of love and happiness, spectators often see on the opera stage the theme of the struggle between good and evil. The battle is epic, full of tragedy and exciting twists, but as in fairy tales, good prevails, because life must prevail and the wheel of history must turn forward.

The higher the goals of the musicians and opera figures, the more they keep up with current topics from the modern-day lives of people. Thus, the opera theatre in Bulgaria’s Stara Zagora did not remain indifferent to the fate of opera performers in Ukraine. Its director, maestro Ognyan Draganov, has personally invited Ukrainian artists to come and continue their work on the Stara Zagora stage.

One of the young stars of the Kyiv Opera, soprano Tamara Kalinkina, responded to the invitation. Initially, she decided to stay in her hometown, but found herself at the heart of the war. Caring for her young child prompted her to take the road to Bulgaria. Now Tamara is in Stara Zagora and is rehearsing hard for her first appearance on stage. Her debut with the opera team will be on March 31, in the role of Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Before that, however, Tamara Kalinkina will meet with the Bulgarian audience tonight / March 28 / at the Ivan Vazov National Theatre where the charity concert "Together for Ukraine" will be held.

• Public service media in Bulgaria organise a charity concert to aid the people of Ukraine

"My strength, my weapon is music. I understand that all the funds raised at this concert will go to help the Ukrainians affected by the war. That is why this participation is very important and responsible. I call for stopoing this war, for putting an end to the bloodshed," Kalinkina told BNR Stara Zagora. She will perform Tatiana's "Letter" from "Eugene Onegin" based on verses by Alexander Pushkin and music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Tamara Kalinkina's connection with Bulgaria passes through Macedonian opera director Trajko Jordanovski. He directed her to Bulgaria and to specific people,  explains Siyka Lapachka from the Stara Zagora Opera.

"She has never been to Bulgaria before. She was fascinated by the warm welcome, but it took her a while to adjust. She cannot distance herself from what is happening in her homeland, what she has experienced and seen with her own eyes. Her closest relatives and friends remain in Kyiv, because of whom she probably remained there three weeks after the start of the war. But when she saw shells flying over their heads, sirens blowing and all the terrible things that the war brought, she decided to come here. Ukrainians are a special kind of people, brave and patriots, but she left only to be able to protect her child."

The Stara Zagora Opera is distinguished by its exceptional multinational spirit, because art is one for all. Among the opera performers, the ballet company and the orchestra there are artists from England, Italy, Poland, Serbia and Japan. But this is the approach of the director Ognyan Draganov and the artistic director Veselina Katsarova - to maintain a high interest in the opera house by inviting world-class performers.

"We, the Bulgarians, have shown compassion and empathy for the people of Ukraine more than once since the start of hostilities," said Siyka Lapachka.

"On the first day when the war was declared, the director of the Stara Zagora Opera called the opera singer Mykhailo Malafii. He is a very famous name in Bulgaria, an extremely talented Ukrainian tenor, a student of the Bulgarian opera singer Kaludi Kaludov. Malafii started his career in Stara Zagora, in "La Traviata" and in "La Boheme". A little later we found out that this graduate of ours is already engaged in many prestigious stages in Hungary, France, in Tal Aviv. Our director immediately prepared an invitation for Mykhailo Malafii to go to Bulgaria with his family and there would be no difficulties in crossing the border. But it was at this point that martial law was declared in Ukraine and all men under the age of 60 were barred from leaving the country. So Mykhailo could not leave. He kept saying that none of his colleagues at the Lviv Opera had left Ukraine. We are ready to help, but there are situations where there is nothing we can do and we just pray. I hope there is peace soon, because we are worried about our colleagues in Ukraine. "

English version Rositsa Petkova