A press conference on the occasion of the organized by the Sofia Opera and Ballet for the sixth time summer festival “Opera in the park” (12 June –18 July 2015) took place in the park of the Military Academy “G.S. Rakovski”. Participants were the theatre’s director Acad. Plamen Kartaloff, Mrs. Galina Bezhanska – director of the “Culture” Department of Sofia Municipality, counter admiral Mitko Petev – head of the Military Academy “G.S. Rakovski”, Mrs. Sara-Nora Krysteva – artistic director of the Sofia Opera and Ballet and the conductors Grigor Palikarov and Boris Spasov. They acquainted the present journalists with the programme and the emphasis in the festival and answered their questions.

The festival is held under the patronage of Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova – Mayor of Sofia, with the kind assistance of the Ministry of Defence. The project is a part of the Calendar of the cultural events of Sofia Municipality for 2015.

Traditional partner of the festival is the United Bulgarian Bank, and this year sponsor is also VIVACOM. 

During six weeks 34 performances in total in the open air will be offered to the audience of the Sofia Opera and Ballet in the course of “Opera in the park”. On the festival playbill are the opera master pieces “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini and “Les pêcheurs des perles” by Georges Bizet, the ballet classic: “Swan Lake”, “Carmen” and “Rhapsody in Blue”, “Zorba the Greek” and “Giselle”.

The programme for the little spectators includes 17 performances of favourite operas and ballets for children: “Hänsel und Gretel” by Humperdinck, “Little Red Riding Hood” by Alexander Vladigerov, “Die Zauberflöte” for children by W.A. Mozart, “Winnie-the-Pooh” by Andrey Drenikov, the ballets “La fille mal guardée” and “Cinderella”. “Die Zauberflöte” by Mozart on 27 June will be charity spectacle and the gathered means will be granted to the 10-year old Vasil Ivanov Valchanov from Plovdiv, who suffers from a rare disease – immune deficiency.

The spectacles in the open air of our first opera theatre have created a new tradition of the opera and ballet art. “Opera in the park” is among the significant cultural events to be remembered in the capital during the summer season.