THE WORLD BARITONE KYRIL MANOLOV IN THE ROLE OF JERROR IN THE PREMIERE OF THE OPERA "ANDRE SHENIE" in Stara Zagora - FOBI 2025
News публикувана на: 13.12.2025
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STAROZAGORSK OPERA OPENS THE NEW YEAR MUSICAL FESTIVAL WITH "RIGOLETTO" - KIRIL MANOLOV as the court jester RIGOLETTO on the stage of Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture
On 21 November the world-renowned Bulgarian baritone KIRIL MANOLOV will shine in the role of Gerard from the opera André Chenier by Umberto Giordano. The opera "André Chenier" is being staged for the first time in the hundred-year history of the Stara Zagora Opera House and with this performance for the 55th time will sound the ceremonial signal of the Festival of Opera and Ballet Art. The performance will be conducted by Pavel Balev, directed by Ognyan Draganov and the author of the lavish set and costumes is Denis Ivanov.
On 17 December at 19.00 the Stara Zagora Opera together with the National Palace of Culture will present for the first time in Sofia on the stage of Hall 1 its impressive production of the opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. The performance is this year's choice of the National Palace of Culture - organizer and host of the traditional New Year's music festival, with which its 39th edition will be officially opened /the festival was established in 1986/. "Rigoletto is one of the most exciting opera premieres in the 2025 anniversary year for the oldest opera house in Bulgaria - the Stara Zagora Opera House, which throughout the creative season celebrates its respectable centenary with a series of special events, performances and concerts.
The new stage realisation of Rigoletto brought together an elite international creative team including world-renowned opera singer and conductor José Cura, opera director Ognian Draganov and Romanian artist Catalin Ionescu-Arbore, who is the author of the original costumes and the impressive set design. A constellation of operatic voices will delight opera lovers, who will choose to share in the festive December evening the experience of Rigoletto - the opera that for 174 years has invariably been present in opera posters and triumphantly marches on opera stages in the country and around the world. The main roles on 17 December on the stage of Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture will shine. Participants: choir and orchestra of the State Opera-Stara Zagora. Choirmasters Mladen Stanev and Stefania Ruseva, concertmaster Paulina Zaharieva.
Kiril Manolov and his fateful relationship with Opera Stara Zagora
The great Bulgarian baritone took his first professional steps on the opera stage in Stara Zagora:
- While still a student, he took part in the National Academy of Music's production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni and performed the role of Don Giovanni himself. The production was staged in Sofia and also visited Stara Zagora - then the Opera performances were staged at the Geo Milev Drama Theatre.
- In 2002 Kiril Manolov made his exciting professional debut in the role of Count Di Luna from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore. And as he himself notes - on the stage of the Drama Theatre he debuted in his first Verdi role in the respectable company of an outstanding soloist cast.
He returns to Stara Zagora 17 years later - again in Il Trovatore - Opera at the Stadium 2019! A magnificent chamber concert follows on 19 October 2023, in which, together with pianist Boryana Lambreva, he gives the audience magical moments with selected songs from the works of Sergei Rachmaninov and Pancho Vladigerov. On June 27, 2024, he charmed his admirers in the role of Scarpia from Puccini's opera Tosca on the stage of the Antique Forum Augusta Traiana, and then - repeated his triumph in this role in August - on the same stage in the company of José Cura in the role of Mario Cavaradossi. In November - shone in the roles of Gianni Schicchi in the opera of the same name - a landmark role in the biography of Kiril Manolov and in the role of Guglielmo from "Le Villi (The Samodivas)" - in the first Bulgarian production of the unique Puccinian opera-ballet and thus began another significant period of the great baritone. With the premiere of the diptych "Gianni Schicchi" and "Le Villi (The Samodivas)" directed by the world-famous Polish director Michal Znaniecki under the baton of Vladimir Kiradzhiev, the 54th edition of the Festival of Opera and Ballet Art started. The first opera premiere in the jubilee year 2025 was the performance of the opera Rigoletto /conducted by the world tenor, conductor and composer José Cura, directed by Ognian Draganov, set and costume design by Cataline Ionescu-Arbore/. Then - on the two premiere dates 28 and 29 March, Kiril Manolov failed to make his debut in these performances due to illness, but on 31 October he delighted his Stara Zagora fans in his eagerly awaited remarkable incarnation as Rigoletto. He is also to be Rigoletto in the performance of Verdi's opera of the same name, with which the Starozagora Opera opens the New Year Music Festival on the stage of Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture on 17 December.
In July 2025, Kirill Manolov makes another stunning debut on the Stara Zagora stage - this time in the Bulgarian opera standard "Tsar Kaloyan" - the only opera by the great Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov. Kiril Manolov is the inimitable Tsar Kaloyan! After Stara Zagora, Kiril Manolov is Tsar Kaloyan in the guest appearance of the Stara Zagora Opera at the 40th edition of the "Stage of the Ages"-Veliko Tarnovo, and then - under the magical starry sky above the Koprinka Dam "On the shore of the ancient Seutopolis" under the conducting of Ivaylo Krinchev, directed by Vera Petrova.
KIRIL MANOLOV was born in Sofia. He graduated from the National Academy of Music and specialized in opera singing in Milan and Vienna. He is a laureate of the competitions for young opera singers in Vienna, Warsaw and Barcelona. He won the Grand Prize - "Golden Ring of Sofia" at the 14th International Competition for Young Opera Singers "Boris Hristov", a prize awarded only 4 times in the 60-year history of the competition.
Manolov has made numerous guest appearances on the stages of opera houses in Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Chicago, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Parma, festivals in Ravenna, Macerata, Savonlinna, Dubrovnik, Palma de Mallorca, and many others.
His creative paths have crossed with some of the greatest conductors and directors in the opera world - Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Carlo Rizzi, Simone Young, Alexander Vedernikov, Damiano Micheletto, Arnaud Bernard, Dietrich Hillsdorf, David McVicker and others.
Following his highly successful debut at the Ravenna-Italy Opera Festival as Sir John Falstaff in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Falstaff, Italian critics and conductor Riccardo Muti have hailed him as the new greatest performer of this role of our time. His long-standing collaboration with Maestro Muti has brought Manoloff the privilege of being a frequent and welcome guest in the Maestro's productions around the world.
Kirill Manolov's repertoire includes a wide range of operas by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini, Mozart, Gounod, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Kurt Weill. Cantata-oratorio works by Bach, Beethoven, Furet and Brahms, chamber music by Bulgarian and foreign composers.
His recordings for the Bulgarian National Radio, HRT-Croatian Radio and Television, Austrian National Radio ORF, etc. are numerous. He has released CDs of his performances for production companies such as RMM and Harmonia Mundi.
Kiril Manolov is a full-time assistant professor at the Vocal Faculty of the National Academy of Music "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov.
