Bulgarian city. Situated on the crossroads from Western Europe, the East and Russia, the city was at first visited by foreign companies. In 1897 the Kaval music society was founded, which staged its first full-scale performance, Georgi Atanasov’s Gergana, in 1925. The Southern Bulgarian Regional Opera was formed in 1931. In 1933–4 the opera house came under the administration of the city; it became state run in 1946, opening as the Narodna Opera Stara Zagora (Stara Zagora National Opera) on 19 June with Il barbiere di Siviglia. Leading figures have included the music director Romeo Raychev, Zlatan Stanchev and the conductors Dobri Khristov, Yosif Yosifov and Dimitar Dimitrov. Since the early 1970s Stara Zagora has hosted the only festival especially for opera and ballet in Bulgaria. The first purpose-built opera house in Bulgaria (seating 700) opened with Lyubomir Pipkov’s Momchil in 1972. During the 1980s the repertory was orientated towards large-scale operas such as Boris Godunov, Der fliegende Höllander, Norma and Marin Goleminov’s Trakiyski idoli (‘Thracian Idols’). Until the theatre burnt down in 1991, there were 150 performances each year including five premières, one of which was an operetta or musical; opera and drama were performed on alternate days.
MAGDALENA MANOLOVA