site.btaSofia Opera and Ballet to Open '23/'24 Season with Verdi's La Traviata

The Sofia Opera and Ballet opens '23/'24 Season with Verdi's La Traviata on September 15. "Dear Bulgarian friends, I am very happy and proud to be with you on September 15 to conduct La Traviata at the Sofia Opera. It will be my debut in this beautiful theatre," - Placido Domingo said in an emotional video message, as quoted by the Sofia Opera and Ballet in a press release.

In 2014, during Placido Domingo's concert in Sofia, he was a special guest of the Director of the Sofia Opera Plamen Kartalov. Back then Domingo received an invitation to perform on the stage of the National Opera, an invitation that only came to fruition this year. During this meeting Domingo learned that in the same year that he participated in performances of the opera Guarani by the most famous Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Gomez, Plamen Kartalov staged the same opera in Sofia. The two also found common ground in their attitude towards Wagner. Plamen Kartalov had already completed his first staging of The Ring of the Nibelung, and Domingo was one of Wagner's most sought-after interpreters, having received acclaim for Tristan, Siegmund, Erik, Parsifal, Tannhauser, Lohengrin (Grammy for Best Opera Recording).

La Traviata occupies an important place in the biographies of both artists. The singer's professional debut in a major central role was Alfred in La Traviata in 1961. His professional debut as a conductor was in 1973, when he led a performance of La Traviata with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.

La Traviata is a landmark in the creative biography of director Plamen Karatalov. "Verdi's repertoire is a goldmine for every opera artist, and La Traviata is a jewel in the crown of every opera theatre. We are also fulfilling the wish of the audience and the generation of our young artists, for whose vocal and acting growth Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece La Traviata is a chariot in the battle for their creative development," Kartalov says.

On 15 September, , will sing Stanislava Momekova will be Violetta, Ilya Selivanov will be Alfred, Atanas Mladenov - Germont, Silvana Pravcheva - Flora, and  Blagovesta Mekki-Tsvetkova – Anina under the baton of Plácido Domingo on September 15.