La Traviata at the State Opera - Burgas: Glamour and Tragedy on the Opera Stage

One of the most performed opera titles - "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi, will be a glamorous highlight in the February program of the State Opera - Burgas. On February 22, Sunday at 19:00 on the stage of the Opera comes a whole host of wonderful opera artists.

They will tell the tragic story of a beautiful love, marred by prejudice and fateful relentlessness. Maestra Stacey Gokenbert /guest/ takes the conductor's podium.

The charming soprano Ilina Mihaylova enters the tragic image of Violetta Valery.

The charismatic tenor from Venezuela Reynaldo Droz will be presented on the stage of the Burgas Opera in the image of Alfred Germont.

The eternal story of "La Traviata" will be presented - with emotional fullness and contagious authentic flame, by the wonderful artists and musicians of the Burgas Opera. Longing, revelation, flame, passion, doubt, inner struggle, disappointment, a sense of revenge, repentance, painful expectation, triumph of feelings - although on the threshold of death - the two class artists will brilliantly present the spectrum of different states of mind.

All soloists will be wonderfully incorporated into the musical-dramatic whole: the famous Bulgarian baritone Alexander Krunev - in a convincing and impressive construction of the image of Georges Germont, the father of Alfred, who experiences a metamorphosis - from a man who separates two lovers, to protect the reputation of his family, to an understanding and accepting father, who gave his blessing, albeit on the deathbed of Violetta.

Magnificent - both as an individuality and as part of the overall picture of the exciting performance will be: mezzo-soprano Yoana Kadiyska - as the beauty from the high Parisian circles Flora, who spends her days in noisy merriment, with a taste of champagne and secular splendor; soprano Stefka Hristozova - with a gentle unobtrusive presence of Annina, who is with her mistress Violetta - both in the bright moments and in the darkness of the tedious moments before her earthly end; bass Kostadin Mechkov - as the rival for the heart of Violetta Valery Baron Dufol, baritone Andrey Yurkovsky - in the image of Marquis d'Obigny, tenor Milen Dinolov - as Viscount Gaston de Letorié, bass Diman Panchev - in the role of Doctor Grenvil, present at the last moments of Violetta's life, tenor Miroslav Dimitrov - as Joseph, serving in the summer mansion of the Parisian courtesan, bass Nikolai Nikolov - in the role of Flora's Servant.

The orchestra of the Burgas Opera will present an inspired performance of the score - with a wonderfully built dramatic line and nuances. The musicians of the orchestra, as well as the artists from the choir and ballet ensemble of the Opera, are expected to recreate the secular splendor of Parisian high society with precision and emotion.

The conductor of the choir is Alexander Chepanov, the concertmaster is Hristo Belchev. The attractive choreography, which was swirling in the spectrum of colors and emotions in the performance, is the work of Galina Kalcheva, the assistant directors of the production are Lina Peeva and Petar Tiholov, the ballet ensemble rehearsal is Marina Zmeeva-Markova.

The magnificent direction of "La Traviata" is by Prof. Dr. Alexander Tekeliev and combines original techniques and an unconventional approach to the construction of the images in the dramatic plot based on the novel by Alexander Dumas - son. Attractive and containing an allegorical charge is the scenography by Katalin Arbore /Romania/, in which mirror images are used - as a symbol of mental metamorphoses. Arbore is also the author of the beautiful stage costumes of the production "La Traviata".

For Stacey Gonikbert /guest/:

On February 22, the maestra Stacey Ginikbert /guest/ takes the conductor's podium. She is a pianist, conductor and composer whose career spans performing and conducting solo, chamber and orchestral music - in the United States, Ukraine, Israel and Europe. Her conducting portfolio includes full productions of "Love Elixir" and "Rigoletto", as well as a diverse symphonic repertoire. As a pianist, she presents Brahms' late keyboard intermezzos from the Ross Mackay Foundation, and the performance of "Variations on a Theme of Corelli" by Rachmaninoff was broadcast on Israeli radio.

She grew up in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and her love of music began at an early age. According to her, music is the bridge between worlds for her, taking her from Ukraine to Jerusalem, Israel, and later to the US, where she currently lives.