Bulgaria

The first attempts to realise an opera tradition go back to 1891. An opera company, Operna Druzhba , was established in 1908 and went through different names (Sofiyska Narodna Opera, Dărzhavna Muzikalen Teatar) unto its present name. The monumental building from the 1920s of the Bulgarian Agrarian Union was altered into the present opera house in the 1950s. The singer Nikolai Ghiaurov acquired international fame.

The history of the National Opera is illustrated In the Opera Museum on the basis of photos, costumes, posters, documents etc.

A music school from 1904 obtained the status of Music Academy by decree of Tsar Boris III in 1921 and later on was named after prof. Pancho Vladigerov, who worked here from 1932 to 1972. An Academic SO was founded in 1928, which became the present Sofia State PO. The concert hall is named after Dimiter Nenov, who taught here from 1933 to 1955.

The concert hall was built in the 1930s and has a capacity of 1100 seats. It is the platform of the Sofia State PO. There is a chamber hall too.

This monumental church was built between 1882 and 1924 in memory of the Russian military assistance during the liberation from the Turkish occupants in 1878-79. It is a good place to hear the impressive Bulgarian Orthodox church music – not to forget the splendid monasteries all over the country.

The young Boris Christoff (1914-1993) was a member of the church choir; he became an internationally acclaimed opera star – his Godunov and his Philip II in Don Carlos are legendary. He died in Rome but his mortal remains were transferred to this church and a monument was erected outside.

In this house, haven built by the parents of Boris Christoff in the 1920s and since 1977 state owned, is a music centre with a small concert hall and an exhibition, devoted to the singer.

House of the composer Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978). He is considered the most important composer of Bulgaria. His works in nearly all genres are high-spirited, colourful and solid but unfortunately scarcely known outside his homeland.

Graves of the composers Pancho Vladigerov, Svetoslav Obretanov (>1401) and supposedly also of Dimiter Nenov (>1421) and Georgi Atanasov (>1101).

Monument of Georgi Atanasov (1882-1931), the composer of the first Bulgarian opera, Borislav (1911). In the same year, his brother Mikula (1886-1969) composed the first Piano Sonata of Bulgaria and in 1912 started to write the first Symphony, but these achievements evidently don’t deserve a monument.

The photo was found on Internet, but the exact address could not be traced.

The ‘House of Culture’ of the interesting second city of Bulgaria offers a platform for the Plovdiv SO, other concerts, opera, ballet and musical.

In ancient Philippopolis, the old name of Plovdiv, a fine antique theatre from the 2^nd century was excavated in the 1970s, then restored/reconstructed and ever since occasionally used for concerts and opera performances.

The composer and choir director Svetoslav Obretenov (1909-1955) spent his youth here from 1912 to ‘27 (he was born in the same street, nr 8). Before the war, he concentrated on choral music and founded the first professional choir. After 1945 he revealed himself as a loyal adherent of the state enforced socialist realism.

Pancho Vladigerov spent his youth in Shumen and obtained the house of his piano teacher in 1930 by marrying her daughter. After having moved to Sofia, he kept it as a summer residence. It became a museum in 1983 and a small concert room was added. The exhibition is very elaborate.

Birthplace of the pianist and composer Dimiter Nenov (1902-1953). He was schooled in architecture as well in music, worked as an architect at the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, but choose for a musical career in 1931. His limited oeuvre is interesting, inspired by Skryabin, Szymanowski and Bulgarian folklore. The exhibition includes, next to the usual items, his architectonic designs.

Around 1900, the cultural climate of this town on the Danube was closely linked to that of the Hapsburg empire (as was the great writer Elias Canetti, who was born here in 1905) and to the worldly flair of the nearby Bucharest of that time. The opera was built in 1890; an own Rousse Opera Society from 1914 is the predecessor of the present State Opera. The Ruse PO appears also in the Zala Filharmoniya at ul. Vazrazhdane 1.

The beautiful capital of medieval Bulgaria organizes since 1998 a yearly International Folklore Festival during the last week of July.

Since 1965, every five years a festival is held, devoted to Bulgarian folk music and dance. It takes place on various locations in the hills surrounding the museum village of Koprivshtitsa in the ‘Valley of Roses’. Foreign fans of Bulgarian music can not only be found in the public but among the about 15.000 participants.

The rich folk music tradition of the Thracian Rhodope mountains must have primeval roots: according to the ancient Greeks should Orpheus, the legendary musician par excellence, have originated from this region. An incentive for the present Bulgarians to erect a monument for him and his Euridice beneath the historic museum of Smolyan. A similar statue is said to be in the nearby ski-resort Pamporovo.

The town makes a real effort to keep the tradition alive by means of a standing folk music and dance ensemble of children and youngsters and a yearly Youth Folklore Festival (last weekend of May).

Shiroka Lăka is, among other villages, renowned for the Preponadelnik, a traditional parade of colourful clothed and masked men (Kukeri), celebrating the rebirth of nature. First Sunday in March.

The folk tradition is taken quite serious here. A ‘National School for Folkloristic Art’ was established in 1972 for the education of professional performers and teachers of folk music and dance.