Choir – History
The Choir is an immediate predecessor of the Opera troupe. Choir and singers’ troupes are associated with the Revival and song traditions in the city of the second half of the 19th century, with the Music Association “Kaval” and the organized by it out-of-the-capital first opera spectacle, which marks the beginning of the Stara Zagora Opera.
Since then the professional Choir of the Stara Zagora Opera has been a key unit in the history of the Opera and the cultural life not only of the Opera and the city, but in the entire country and abroad as well. Multiple times the Choir, with the Opera or separately has participated in concerts and spectacles in almost all the European countries, Turkey, the USA.
The Choir of the Stara Zagora State Opera has worked with conductors Zlatan Stanchev, Stefan Daskalov, Boris Fetvedzhiev, Georgi Neshev, Iliya Iliev, Ivan Dimov, Teodorina Stoycheva, Bogdana Popova, Emil Minev, Plamen Genov, Stefanka Zhelyazkova, Mladen Stanev.
In the last years the Choir has also given its own concerts independent of the spectacles of the Opera, with a diverse genre repertoire – from Renaissance to folklore adaptations and modern compositions. Small chamber formations, consisting of the singers of the Choir, carry out concert activity.
Repertoire:
W.A.Mozart – Requiem KV 626
Gioachino Rossini – Stabat Mater
Franz Schubert – Messe G Dur
Carl Orff – Carmina Burana
Ariel Ramirez – Missa Criola
Eastern Orthodox music – including works by Bulgarian and Russian authors (Dobri Hristov, Petar Dinev, P. I. Tchaikovsky, P. Chesnokov, M. Mussorgsky and others) – performed a cappella.
Folklore interpretations – including also adaptations and author’s compositions by Bulgarian authors (F. Kutev, S. Mutafchiev, D. Hristov, P. Staynov), which are performed a cappella, as well as fragments of Bulgarian operas with emphatic folklore sound.
A concert program of Revival and patriotic songs, suitable for celebrations, national and international holidays.
A concert program of works by Maestro Georgi Atanasov, Asen Karastoyanov, Parashkev Hadjiev and other soloist chamber performances by individual members of the Choir.