City in Bulgaria. It is the largest Bulgarian port and resort city on the Black Sea coast. Once the ancient Greek colony of Odessos, Varna is the centre of operatic activity in north-eastern Bulgaria. The first performances of opera scenes date from the founding of a choir at St Michael’s Church in 1893 and of the Gusla Music Society in 1899. In 1920, 1928 and 1930 attempts were made to organize a permanent theatre; from the period 1926–37 the first Bulgarian musical festivals began to be organized.
After the socialist revolution in 1944, Varna became the home of the Varnensko Lyato (Varna Summer), an international music festival. A symphony orchestra was founded in 1946, and the Varnenska Narodna Opera (Varna National Opera) in 1947, housed in the National Theatre. The first opera performance was Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. The repertory is predominantly Italian and German, with special emphasis on Mozart and modern European and Bulgarian music (especially that of Parashkev Hadjiev). Operas staged for the first time in Bulgaria include Così fan tutte, Britten’s Albert Herring and his version of The Beggar’s Opera, Il turco in Italia and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery. The regular season starts in September and ends in August, with between four and eight new productions a year. The theatre, built by N. Lazarov in 1932 in a mainly classical style, holds about 600; it was renovated during the 1980s and reopened with Die Zauberflöte (1989). The company presents four opera performances weekly in addition to those staged as part of the summer festival.
MAGDALENA MANOLOVA