Plovdiv’s Opera Open 2016 festival opens with gala on June 18
The opening gala of the annual Opera Open festival in Plovdiv will be at the city’s Ancient Theatre on June 18. The performance will include scenes from famous operas and operettas.
During the festival, which continues until July 29, top soloists will perform operas by Verdi, Wagner, Puccini and Bizet.
Six Bulgarian opera stars will take part in the gala opening: soprano Tsvetelina Vassileva, who performed in the Metropolitan Opera with La Traviata, Il Trovatore and La Boheme; coloratura soprano Petya Ivanova, who received recognition as the Queen of the Night in Vienna Staatsoper and Vienna Folksoper; Plovdiv mezzo-soprano Mariana Pentcheva- a soloist at the Arena di Verona, Covent Garden, and in Naples, where she sang with Pavarotti; tenor Boyko Tsvetanov, soloist of the opera in Zurich with over 60 central tenor parts; baritone Petar Danailov, who has sung on major Western European stages, including those in Brussels, Bonn, Oslo and Hamburg; bass Deyan Vatchkov who after his debut at La Scala at the age of 22, regularly sings in Milan and Arena Di Verona.
Plovdiv Opera director Nina Naidenova said that it was expected that this year’s festival would draw 20 000 visitors to the performances.
Among the foreign opera stars coming to the festival are baritone Alberto Gazale (in Aida), soprano Donna d’Annunzio-Lombardi (in Madama Butterfly) and soprano Elisabet Strid (in The Flying Dutchman).
The performance of Madama Butterfly will be on June 21 and of The Flying Dutchman on June 24.
For further details of the programme and for details about tickets, please visit the website of the festival.
