Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora conducts "Stabat Mater" on 25 April

News публикувана на: 19.04.2024

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For the second time His Eminence Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora will conduct "Stabat Mater" by Gioachino Rossini - on 25 April at 7 pm at the Opera House. The soloists Emilia Terzieva /soprano/, Petya Petrova /mezzo-soprano/, Ivaylo Yovchev /tenor/, Ivaylo Djurov /bass/, the choir and the orchestra of the State Opera - Stara Zagora, together will present the story of suffering, sorrow and faith that love and beauty always find their way to our hearts. In the foyer of the Opera House before the performance there will be an Easter bazaar of the Day Care Centre "St. Cosmas and Damian".

A strong and fruitful cooperation links the Bishop and the staff of the State Opera - Stara Zagora. The pre-Easter concert of the Stara Zagora Opera in 2017 was conducted by Metropolitan Kyprian - "Requiem" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and a short time later it was performed in Kazanlak. On 30 July 2017, at the Antique Forum "Augusta Traiana", the Bishop conducted the Gala Concert of the State Opera - Stara Zagora, dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the fighting for Stara Zagora during the Russo-Turkish Liberation War /1877-1978./ At the end of the same year, His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Neofit was among the guests at the concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the enthronement of the beatifically deceased Metropolitan Pankraty of Stara Zagora.

In 2018, Metropolitan Kyprian also took the conductor's podium for "Prayer for Stara Zagora" - a performance dedicated to the 141st anniversary of the epic battles for the city during the Russo-Turkish War and the 140th anniversary of the Liberation of Bulgaria, held at the Memorial Complex "The Defenders of Stara Zagora".

On the great Christian feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary - 28 August 2020, at the Antique Forum "Augusta Traiana" the Bishop conducted the oratorio "The Passion of Matthew" by Metropolitan Hilarion, for which in 2021 the Stara Zagora Opera Choir was awarded the "Crystal Lyre" of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Artists in the category "Choral Art".

On September 3, 2022 was the last concert of the Stara Zagora Opera from the program of the Thracian Kings Festival. The venue was again on the bank of the Koprinka Dam, near the ancient capital of the Thracians - Seutopolis. There, Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora conducted the oratorio "Molenie" and the solemn overture 1812 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

On Holy Wednesday - March 12, 2023, His Eminence Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora conducts "Stabat Mater" by Gioachino Rossini at the Stara Zagora State Opera.

The musical poem "The Hermit of Rila" in two acts and ten paintings was performed on 10 and 23 May 2023 on the stage of the Sofia Opera and Ballet, marking 70 years since the restoration of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The conductor was Metropolitan Kyprian of Stara Zagora. This new large-scale sacred work is based on a text by Tihomir Pavlov (1937), music by Stavrophorian Icon Cyril Popov and orchestration by Georgi Strezov. The stage adaptation is by academician prof. Plamen Kartalov and Vera Petrova, with the participation of a large artistic ensemble.

About Stabat Mater:

The Roman Catholic hymn "Stabat Mater" is based on the text of a medieval Latin poem extolling the suffering of the Mother of Christ at the Savior's cross. Through the numerous musical works written on the ecclesiastical text, the Stabat Mater gained widespread popularity.

While traveling in Spain in 1831, Gioacchino Rossini received a commission from the Councillor of State Fernandez Varela for music on the Stabat Mater church sequence. The very next year, part of the work was finished, but health problems prevented Rossini from completing it. He therefore asked his friend Giovanni Tadolini to compose the remaining parts, and presented the work to Varela as finished. It was premiered on Holy Saturday in 1833 at the church of San Felipe el Real in Madrid. This version has never been performed since.

After Varela's death, the work was sold to a Parisian publisher who published it. Rossini claimed his rights to the publication and abandoned this version, as it also contained music by Tadolini. In the dispute that ensued, the publisher prepared a performance of the Stabat Mater on 31 October 1841, at which, however, only the six movements written by Rossini were still performed. In the meantime, Rossini had already sold the publishing rights. However, at the end of 1841 Rossini completed the work by replacing the parts written by Tadolini with his own music.

"The Stabat Mater in its final version was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien's Salle Ventadour on 7 January 1842. The publisher Escudier writes: "Rossini's name was constantly chanted along with the applause. The whole work pleased the spectators immensely; its triumph was complete. Three numbers had to be repeated ... and the audience left the theatre excited and filled with an admiration which soon overwhelmed all Paris."

The Italian premiere of the work was in March in Bologna, performed by Gaetano Donizetti. It too was a great success. Donizetti says of the audience reaction, "It is impossible to describe the enthusiasm. Even after the last rehearsal, in which Rossini himself took part, he was accompanied to his home halfway through the day by the enthusiastic cheers of more than 500 people. The same happened in the evening, under his window, until he reappeared before the crowd".