site.btaUPDATED John Malkovich Receives Bulgarian Culture Ministry Honour

During a working visit to Varna, Bulgarian Culture Minister Krastyu Krastev on Sunday evening presented John Malkovich with his Ministry's newest honour, a plaquette for the American actor's contribution to the advancement of culture and the promotion of international cultural cooperation, Krastev's Ministry said in a press release on Monday.

Before that, Krastev watched Malkovich star in a performance of Michael Sturminger's The Infernal Comedy –  Confessions of a Serial Killer, written and directed by Michael Sturminger, at the Varna Festival and Congress Centre. 

The Hollywood star is cast as Jack Unterweger, a serial killer of women in the 1970s. He is partnered by opera sopranos Chen Reiss and Susanne Langbein, who sing arias from Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn and Weber, accompanied by the Wiener Akademie Orchestra under the baton of Martin Haselbock.

The Infernal Comedy –  Confessions of a Serial Killer was the last event of the 31st Varna Summer International Theatre Festival. It was also part of the Intermezzo Programme, a project supported by the Ministry of Culture and the US Embassy in Bulgaria.

That was Malkovich's second tour in Bulgaria this year, after his appearance Timofey Kulyabin's production of In the Solitude of Cotton Fields alongside award-winning Lithuanian actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite at Sofia's Ivan Vazov National Theatre in February.

Besides this, between February 17 and April 30 the Kvadrat 500 National Gallery in Sofia hosted an exhibition of 61 colour and black-and-white photographs in which American photographer Sandro Miller and Malkovich recreated the most iconic images in 20th and 21st century photography in a series titled "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich: Homage to Photographic Masters".

Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih handed Malkovich a replica of the two bull-shaped gold platelets found in the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis, where the world's oldest gold treasure, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered in 1972.

"Our city is proud of its eventful historical past and of its cultural life. Varna is honoured to have you as its guest," the Mayor said, congratulating the actor after the Sunday night performance.