site.btaRenowned Bulgarian Bass Singers Celebrate Boris Christoff's 110th Birth Anniversary with Concert

Six Bulgarian singers took part on Wednesday evening in a concert in Varna under the motto "Bulgarian basses for Boris Christoff". Petar Buchkov, Julian Konstantinov, Delyan Slavov, Bozhidar Bozhkilov, Deyan Vatchkov and Geo Chobanov performed with the Varna Opera Orchestra under the baton of Ivaylo Krinchev.

The repertoire of the evening featured arias from Giuseppe Verdi's The Sicilian Vespers, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco and Don Carlos, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni, Charles Gounod's Faust, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Sergei Rachmaninoff's Aleko and A Life for the Tsar, as well as Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin's Prince Igor.

At the end of the programme, parts of Boris Christoff's favourite opera Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky were performed. Christoff said the Mussorgsky had such a strong influence on him, so much so that he decided to change his life's path from law to music in order to be able to interpret his world. 

During the concert, the audience had the opportunity to watch a projection of photos from various roles of Boris Christoff, as well as to listen to audio recordings of his thoughts. In them he shares that art is infinite and a true artist must seek to cultivate himself in many directions. "It is not just the voice and the singing that are important, it is the interpretation, the experience, the development of the aesthetic sense and these are achieved naturally not in one or two years. It is not possible for an artist to say that he has reached the top and has nowhere to go higher. He has to acquaint himself basically with the literary treasures of the whole world, with all the arts that run parallel, connected with one another," Christoff was quoted as saying.   

"Bulgarian Basses for Boris Christoff" is a project of the Boris Christoff National Museum on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the birth of the great opera artist, teacher and donor. It was realized in partnership with the opera theatres in Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Ruse and Stara Zagora and was presented on their stages in October and November. After Varna, the last event is to take place in Stara Zagora on November 26.