The Sofia Opera and Ballet will greet spring with a touch of drama. On the 3rd of May, the famous soprano Jessica Pratt will return to the Sofia Opera stage with another non-sugarcoated concert titled “Spring of a Doomed Love” after she performed “Delirium” on the 8th of March here.
Pratt will again pull the “woman’s insanity” string: the extreme caused by an unrequited or hopeless love. Arias and scenes from “La Somnambula”, “Il Puritani”, “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” and “Norma” by Vincenzo Bellini as well as fragments from “Lucia di Lammermoor” and “Linda di Chamounix” by Gaetano Donizetti. Pratt will take on the role of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” and that of Olympia in Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann”
Pratt will partner with the Sofia Opera and Ballet musicians during the gala. Conductor will be Maestro Francesco Ivan Ciampa who chose the fragments from “Norma” by Bellini, “Anne Bolleine” by Donizetti and “Thais” by Jules Massenet, to be performed by the orchestra only.
The madness in opera is key to Pratt’s career as the singer has been delving into the theme for years: in 2023 she published the album “Delirio” where she performs some of the most-famous madness opera scenes in pieces by Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. Pratt presented it in Bulgaria on the 8th of March; apparently, the Bulgarian audience has impressed her because she will return to Bulgaria for two more concerts: on the 3rd of May at the Sofia Opera then on the 8th of August in Varna where she will perform the main role in “Norma” together with the Georgian mezzo-soprano Ekaterine Buachidze.
The concert on the 8th of March was Jessica Pratt’s second performance in Bulgarian. Yavor Siderov wrote an article on this topic on “Ploshtad Slaveikov”.
“Pratt is a coloratura soprano veteran in this industry so it’s not unjust to assume her second appearance in front of the Bulgarian audience will be more or less a routine experience. It’s also not cynical to assume that a star in such a stage of her career will rely on professionalism and on all those little tricks singers use in order to preserve their own voice and body. This couldn’t be further from the truth. During Pratt’s second appearance on the Sofia Opera stage (the first one for me), the UK born Australian was the embodiment of charisma in action. True, she has studied singing in Italy and was influenced by the temperamental school there; however, she acted out every single note she sung and she sung a lot of notes, almost each and every one without going easy on herself. Along with psychology knowledge, Pratt is also gifted with a creator’s curiosity and the tendency to popularize music that is rarely performed.”
Tickets for Pratt’s concert on the 3rd of May (prices ranging from 20 to 65 euro) are already being sold online and at the Sofia Opera box office.