Orchestra – History

The Orchestra of the Stara Zagora Opera, during the first years of its existence since 1925, was headed by Aleksandar Georgiev as part of the Music Association “Kaval”. Initially, the troupe was joined by the Military Wind Band and amateurs – teachers, students, engineers, doctors, lawyers.

After 1946, when the Opera Theater was formed as a state institution, the troupe gradually included professionally educated musicians who had graduated from the newly created secondary music schools and the Music Academy. This allowed enriching the repertoire with stage productions which required a higher aesthetic potential: “Rusalka” by Dargomyzhsky (1946), “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti (1949), “Pagliacci” by Leoncavallo (1949), “Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail” by Mozart (1950) and others.

During the first years, its conductors were Boris Fetvedzhiev, Simeon Fetvedzhiev, Dimitar Hristov, Yosko Yosifov. Especially significant role for the consolidation of the Orchestra had Romeo Raychev, director and chief conductor of the Stara Zagora Opera in the period 1942 – 1954, and after him Anastas Anastasov, Iliya Iliev and Ruslan Raychev as well.

Led by Dimitar Dimitrov (1959), the Orchestra established itself as a formation, capable of meeting the requirements of various artistic tasks, including cantata-oratorio and symphonic repertoire, as well as of new opera and ballet works by Bulgarian composers: “Kardzhalii” by Ivan Dimov (1959), “A Madcap” (1960) and “Albena” (1963) by Parashkev Hadjiev and others.

Throughout the years, the basic contribution to the development of the Orchestra belongs to Veselin Nenov, Mihail Popov, Ivan Dimov, Nedyalko Nedyalkov, Bozhidar Bonev, Krasimir Kashev, Stefan Linev, Dian Chobanov, Luciano Di Martino, Ivaylo Krinchev, Vladimir Boshnakov and Dimitar Kosev.