The newly-purchased instruments for the Sofia Opera and Ballet orchestra are an absolutely needed investment. This is what acad. Plamen Kartaloff, director of the Sofia Opera and Ballet, said during today’s presentation of the new instruments bought for the Sofia Opera orchestra.
The event took place at club “Opera” at the Sofia Opera and Ballet.
Among the new instruments are trumpets, trombones, marching drums, gongs and tam-tams, cymbals, a marimba, bells as well as the only bass trumpet in Bulgaria which is “very typical for Wagner’s works” according to musicians from the Sofia Opera.
“All these instruments are a really good investment achieved with our hard work”, acad. Plamen Kartaloff added.
He also added that “When the state no longer cares for financing its cultural institutes entirely, then we at the Sofia Opera and Ballet must take charge and handle finances in such a way that we’re self-sufficient and self-organized and not complain when there’s a lack of budget etc.”
In acad. Kartaloff’s words, the Sofia Opera has managed to overshoot its own financial plan for the past year of 2025.
The opera director expressed his thanks towards the musicians who ordered the instruments themselves.
During the instruments’ presentation, a video was shown in which the musicians talk about their experience from playing the new instruments. According to them, “it is extremely easy to play these new instruments. Wagner’s works are exceptionally hard and draining but we don’t feel tired at all while playing the new instruments.”
At the end of the presentation, acad. Kartaloff defined the Sofia Opera and Ballet’s Wagner festival as “the most important event for Bulgaria”.
“The Wagner festival is the most important event because we disproved the audience, the singers’ and the general public’s prejudice that Wagner’s works could not be set in Sofia”, Kartaloff added.
