site.btaSofia Opera Wagner Festival Begins on June 13

The Wagner Festival of the Sofia Opera will begin on June 13 with the romantic opera Lohengrin, presented for the first time in Weimar in 1849.

Lohengrin is an allegory of the Christian ideal of freedom and hope, of saving humanity from all injustices, said director Plamen Kartalov.

The performance will be conducted by Constantin Trinks, the choir and orchestra of the Sofia Opera and the male choir of the BNR will participate. The scenography is by Hans Kudlich in collaboration with Sven Jonke and Gudrun Geiblinger, and the costumes are designed by Italian designer Mario Dice.

Kostadin Andreev, Tsvetana Bandalovska, Ventseslav Anastasov, Gabriela Georgieva, Biser Georgiev and Atanas Mladenov will take part in the first performance.

The second performance of Lohengrin will take place on June 23, featuring Simon O'Neill, Radostina Nikolaeva, Thomas Weinhappel, Mariana Tsvetkova, Stefan Vladimirov, under the conduction of and Evan-Alexis Christ.

"The Sofia Opera continues to create a Wagnerian world in Bulgaria and educate the special Wagnerian audience. All Wagner's works are performed by Bulgarian singers, and Plamen Kartalov's idea is for them to gain a wider worldview and be recognized throughout the world," commented the opera.

The six festival nights will present five titles besides Lohengrin. From June 15 to 20, the public will be able to see Der Ring des Nibelungen, performed under the direction of Evan-Alexis Christ, and the audience will enjoy a magical visual picture directed by Plamen Kartalov.

The journey of Richard Wagner's works in the Sofia Opera began almost 100 years ago, but the real development with scale and visionary audacity unfolded from 2010 onward, the opera recalled. In the following 14 years, Plamen Kartalov staged seven titles, with Der Ring des Nibelungen having two different productions. Lohengrin will be the eighth title.

As BTA wrote, over 5,000 spectators visited the Wagner Festival last year, from all over the world. Guests from Germany, France, Austria, Finland, USA, India, Switzerland, Norway, Luxembourg, Australia and Bulgaria attended the productions.