Stara Zagora’s Opera

The music traditions of the town of Stara Zagora date from the middle of 19th century when a few church and secular choirs were established. In 1897 the music society Kaval (wooden flute) started performing arias from famous operas. Several concerts of Kaval preceded the first opera show – the opera Gergana by Maestro Atanassov, the premier of which took place in 1925, thus the Stara Zagora Opera making its first steps. After the great success of Gergana the Stara Zagora Opera artists played Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi, the Barber of Seville by Gioacchino Rossini, Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, etc. Gradually the Stara Zagora Opera expanded and embraced all Southern Bulgaria, hence it was called South-Bulgarian Opera. After 1946 the Opera was completely financed by the state which allowed the performance of larger projects. From 1971 the Opera started performing in a new modern building, playing classical works as Aida, the Flying Dutchman, the Force of Destiny, etc. The Opera artists also played a lot of modern composers. The Opera won international recognition and spread the fame of the Bulgarian opera on the stages of Poland, Russia, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Austria, Germany, and Italy. In 1991 the house of the Opera burned down in fire. Despite the hard conditions the opera company continued playing. In 2010 on October 5 on the eve of the town’s celebration day was opened the renovated building of the Opera, burned exactly 19 years earlier. The first performance, which the temple of operatic art met its fans with, is Carmen by Georges Bizet. Today the iconic building has the largest and most modern revolving stage in the country. Recovery the Stara Zagora Opera required nearly BGN 13 million All activities were complied with the requirements of the author team who designed the building in the early 60's of last century.