site.btaVeliko Tarnovo Hosts World Premiere of "The Borg People" by Austrian Composer Neumann

The opera The Borg People by Austrian composer Helmut Neumann premiered for the first time on the stage in Veliko Tarnovo on Tuesday. It is the first 12-tone opera written in this harmonic system making it a scientific and musical experiment of worldwide importance, the organisers of the event said. 

In an interview with BTA before the beginning of the production Neumann said that he felt very excited and happy that he had chosen Veliko Tarnovo as the place of the premiere. "I feel at home in Veliko Tarnovo. Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria is the town where I live, also an old town that looks almost the same as Veliko Tarnovo, which makes me feel comfortable here," Neumann pointed out.

The production is the work of an international team led by the maestro conductor Bistra Dilyanoff, who has been living and working in Austria for years. The director of the production is Boyan Ivanov, and the set designer is Monika Borisova. The premiere was organised by the Austrian-Bulgarian Society, the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo, the Purple Swan Association for art and culture, the International Elias Canetti Society and the Veliko Tarnovo Music and Drama Theater, under the honorary patronage of Austrian Ambassador to Bulgaria Andrea Ikic-Böhm.

Veliko Tarnovo Theater Director Vasil Valchev thanked the entire team for their trust. Deputy Mayor Neiko Genchev said that the ties between Bulgaria and Austria are long-standing and deep and recalled that Vienna was the city where the first Bulgarian books were printed during the Renaissance. He added that Prince Ferdinand, who was born in Vienna, managed to turn Bulgaria into one of the fastest growing European countries, and Austrian architects contributed to the appearance of Sofia and other cities in post-liberation Bulgaria.