At a meeting between Plamen Kartaloff, director of the Sofia Opera and Ballet and Aulon Naçi, director of the Albanian national opera and ballet, a conversation took place during which the possibilities for a cultural cooperation between the two national institutions were discussed. Her Excellency Inid Milo, ambassador of the Albanian Republic in Bulgaria, was also present.

“This is my first time in Sofia. I like the theater very much. It’s wonderful”, Aulon Naçi said. “I’m glad we’re discussing future cultural exchange cooperations between two nations but also between two capitals such as Tirana and Sofia. As far as what we can share from our theater’s experience, we will start off discussing not only coproductions between the two theaters but also individual invitations for special events such as concerts featuring lead singers from both countries, inviting a Sofia Opera production to be performed in Tirana by its orchestra and ballet and signing a memorandum for a long-term cooperation. We can use the experience you have in the area of creating operas for children or contemporary music. During the last couple decades, Albania has produced several very famous opera singers such as Inva Mula, Saimir Pirgu, Ermonela Jaho as well as many young singers with Albanian roots who perform abroad. Your audience may be interested in seeing some of these names perform in a concert as well as some of your famous singers visiting our theater.”

Plamen Kartaloff

“It’s completely natural for two national opera theaters to cooperate and interact in the interest of great art. We have all the power and potential for such an undertaking which will bring a fresh take and bear new fruits for creating coproductions, artists exchange and for everything else which will enrich Bulgaria and Albania’s opera culture. We’re happy our colleagues again reached out to us and that they want an actual creator’s presence of the Sofia Opera in their own countries. We already had international tours in Italy, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Japan, Brazil, Turkey and Poland. Albania is a very important country for us regarding our future projects for creating new ideas and new spaces for cultural projects exchange.”

This night, our guest saw the premiere of the Sofia Opera’s production of “MacBeth” by Giuseppe Verdi.