PARIS LIFE - Premiere

News публикувана на: 26.10.2016

Go back

Premiere of the operetta PARIS LIFE by Offenbach on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera House

The operetta "PARIS LIFE" by Jacques Offenbach is the latest premiere of the Stara Zagora State Opera, which will take place on 28 October /Friday/ at 19.00 on the stage of the Opera. The production is directed by Prof. Rumen Neykov, conducted by Dimitar Kosev, set designer Ivan Tokadzhiev, costume designer Antonia Petrova. Starring soloists Milko Mihailov, Nikolay Motov, Ivaylo Yovchev, Ivan Kabamitov, Maria Gancheva, Prolet Pencheva, Yanitsa Nesheva, Elena Petrova-guest, Evgeny Arabadzhiev, Hristo Sarafov-guest, Neli Necheva, Lyubomir Petkov, Ivaylo Yovchev, Emilia Djurova, Kamelia Stoycheva, Kunka Dacheva, Maria Koleva, Lilyana Khodjeva, Kremena Raicheva, Teodor Petkov, Evgen Surmiyevich, Nina Dimitrova, Hristo Ivanov, Nikola Marulev, Ignat Zhelev, Ivan Kolev, Margarita Yovcheva, Ilian Filipov, Peter Yankulov, Tenko Jelepov, Ilian Vichev, choir, ballet and orchestra of the State Opera-Stara Zagora.

The premiere of Offenbach's operetta "A Parisian Life" took place at the Palais Royal theatre in Paris on 31 October 1866. On the stage of the State Opera Stara Zagora the work will come to life for the first time 150 years later. The libretto is by the tandem Henri Mejac and Louis Halévy, the adaptation is by Isidore Sztok and Jan Sashin with a translation into Bulgarian by Dimitar Simidov.

With the premiere of the operetta "A Parisian Life", the Stara Zagora State Opera celebrates a kind of triple jubilee of Prof. Rumen Neykov - 70 years since the birth of the director, 40 years - creative activity and the 25th production as a director on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera.

The creative team - for the Stara Zagora premiere of the operetta "Parisian Life"

Prof. Rumen Neykov - director

"It is no coincidence that this operetta has not been performed in Bulgaria for 55 years since its premiere at the Musical Theatre in Sofia with the most elite soloists of the time. It is sophisticated as a construction, as scenes, as development of the action, not that it is an Offenbach that did not appeal. The action takes place 150 years ago, during the World's Fair in Paris in 1867. The operetta was commissioned to be written to commemorate that fair and was composed the year before - by a now famous Maestro and some wonderful librettists.

"A Parisian Life is my fourth work based on Offenbach - I have set his Belle Helene, Orpheus in Hell and Hoffmann's Tales. I was for many years a member of the European Academy of Music Theatre in Vienna, Austria. At one of their first congresses the theme was "Operetta, the incredible art" my lecture was precisely about Offenbach's operettas and it was very well received. By which I mean that the subject of Offenbach is very close to my heart.

I am glad that the management of the Stara Zagora State Opera readily accepted my idea of staging "A Parisian Life". I have been working since the end of last season with the artists of the Opera and with wonderful colleagues such as the stage designer Ivan Tokadzhiev, the costume designer Antonia Popova, the young conductor Dimitar Kosev, who is very good with stylistics.

I hope we will carry the audience away in this magic of Offenbach - that everything is light, pours like champagne. It does seem as if it's easy, but interpretively it's not. I'm confident that the performance will be a huge treat for the audience. I don't like updating shows, in the sense of adapting them to the times so much, I don't like caricatures on stage /doing caricature characters/. And I wish and I think we achieve it on stage to have real, live people with their excitement, feelings, peripeteia, love, hate, competition"

Dimitar Kosev - conductor

As long as I can sing and have the music in my head all day after rehearsal, then it will become my favourite title and it will certainly be many people's favourite title. I don't like operas that have a sad ending. I like there to be joy and merriment, the action making me want to watch from the console what is happening on stage rather than watching the orchestra sing. Interestingly, the music of a French operetta - by a French composer and set in Paris - is much more Strauss and his The Bat. It's an interesting combination in a show that has beautiful music, very beautiful costumes. Our audiences will be not exactly at an operetta, but at a lavish concert of French music in which a dozen ordinary "proletarian" types will be transformed into people from the upper echelons of society and politics. And this is more or less a mirror image of today. Offenbach certainly didn't know his operetta would sound so realistic in the 21st century. So as well as being entertained, we'll also be thinking - who is who in the real world and how can, by changing into someone else, successfully fool so many people. The orchestra also, without my permission, has a lot of fun while performing this operetta and even some light dancing. For which, again, I am glad.

Ivan Tokadzhiev-set designer

This is a frivolous, romantic and very comic story set in a very big city and a world centre of fortune seekers. I think that the main storyline and the wonderful music are a skillful combination that will give pleasure to the Stara Zagora audience. We have tried to make a more contemporary reading, close to our modern worldview and vision - hopefully we have succeeded. The biggest judge is there, in the dark in the lounge. We will try, I am very curious because at the very beginning of my artistic career I worked with Prof. Rumen Neykov and now I am interested in our new meeting to what extent the then youthful amalgam has been preserved.

Antonia Popova - costume designer

"Parisian Life" is a feast for the senses. The costumes are in early Belle Époque as a historical reference - the cultural and all round rise that France and Paris experienced in the late 19th century. They contribute to an elevated mood that prevailed then and will now be seen on stage by the audience. An elevated mood, a real happiness with life, with all the goods of life, happiness with everything. The costumes are spring-like, cheerful, with a very elegant line. My about 130 drawings are created in costumes of lace, silk, taffeta, velvet and have many accessories and hats. I am grateful to the management of the Opera House for not compromising on the quantity and quality of fabrics that were needed, so you will see a very beautiful and exquisite production.