COPNEJ

On 20 November 2022, the fifth chamber concert of this year's Music Without Borders series was presented on the stage of the Stara Zagora Opera House. Soprano Emilia Ivanova, pianist Manuela Manolova and clarinetist Fernando Fernandez chose the title "Longing" and focused on songs and pieces to be thematically united by the theme of love and spring. The plot of the concert is complemented with poems performed by the actress Bilyana Raynova. The programme includes song cycles for voice, clarinet and piano by Franz Schubert, Louis Spohr and Jan Kalivoda. The finale is the Concerto Fantasia based on motifs from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

Emilia Ivanova's soprano has often demonstrated her exquisite interpretation of works from different styles and eras. Her first encounter with the songwriting of German composers was provoked during her specialization at the Experimental Opera Studio in Spoleto, Italy, where she made recordings of songs by German composers and mostly of Schubert songs with similar themes. The singer makes no secret of her predilection for chamber music: "I like chamber music very much. People shouldn't underestimate it, it's not easy to play, it's multi-coloured, it's very poetic, it takes you to another dimension - of what is being sung about. It's really very enriching, because after all there's quite a big difference between opera and chamber performances, in this case of German music. You have to think about many things at the same time. Besides, chamber music is an accumulation of experience to be able to impersonate, to fall into a different world. You experience in yourself to what extent you can impersonate even a person with whom you have absolutely nothing in common, roughly speaking. The more varied our "menu" is, the richer our experience as singers, because if we're always performing the same roles, there's no development for us. To be true to the style of the chamber work you are presenting requires complex qualities: experience, for sure. The language in which the work is performed must be more or less mastered. Talent...many things are. Mostly a lot of work, a lot of singing, a lot of thought...

"The "Longing" concerto also features /except for the piano/ the clarinet. What the audience will hear is something different. I don't think anything like this has been done before. They will enjoy a wonderful spring sunny and joyful music . It will transport the viewer to another world, give them a breath of fresh air, and give them pleasure in these difficult times. We all need that."

Emilia Ivanova, soprano