On the 5th of December 2025, a group of Greek students visited the Sofia Opera as part of their trip to Sofia and you can now see their impressions on the school’s site: the town of Nidri, the island of Lefkada, Greece.
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On the 12th of December, we had the opportunity to visit the Sofia Opera during our stay in the city: an experience which was further enriched by a specially organized tour.
We learned of the Sofia Opera’s history, its architecture and its international collaborations, including such with theaters and festivals in Greece.
In 1918 began the first attempts by Bulgarian opera singers to presents arias and opera fragments in cultural centers and existing theaters. In 1921, with a special law passed by Alexandar Stamboliyski’s government, the National Opera was founded and it delivered its first performances at the National theater building.
During the following decades, world-famous Bulgarian singers shone on the Sofia Opera stage such as Elena Nikolai, Ilka Popova, Nadya Kovacheva, Yuliya Venera, Nadia Afeyan, Gena Dimitrova, Alexandrina Milcheva, Raina Kabaivanska, Dimitar Uzunov, Boris Hristov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Nikolai Gyaurov, Anna Tomova-Sintova and Sonya Yoncheva.
In 1946, the Bulgarian government tasked architect Lazar Parshkevanov with designing and erecting the National Sofia Opera building. The architect spent several months in studying the biggest opera theaters’ acoustics and created a unique hall, the design of which is reminiscent of the inside of a shell. The audience is situated in such a way, as if it’s inside a musical instrument. The sound rises from the stage to the upper parts of the hall while the gaps around the ceiling and its circular opening help for the sound to equally dissipate and reach all spaces and galleries.
The Sofia Opera foyers, walls and floors are lined with specially worked rare kinds of marble.
The Sofia Opera building was finished in 1953. In order to evaluate the hall’s acoustics, a team of experts led by the German conductor Herman Abendrot arrived in Sofia. After a thorough sound quality test in all parts of the halls, the committee concluded the Sofia Opera’s acoustics was among the best in the world, even when compared to the most famous theatres.
During our visit, we saw a part of a rehearsal for the “The Great Gatsby” ballet.
A hundred-year-old grand piano is kept in the Sofia Opera ground floor foyer and it is only used on special occasions. The instrument was restored during the span of twenty years by the Bulgarian master Dimitar Mihov. In honor of his wife Judy: an opera singer who performed on the Sofia Opera stage during the 70s, he brought the piano to Sofia and gifted it to the Sofia Opera.
In order to underline the instrument’s exceptional sound quality, mister Valentin Samov performed his composition: „A Phrygian Chant”, dedicated to the Greek composer Panos Triantafilidis, which concluded our visit at the Sofia Opera and Ballet.
The event was organized and presented by Valentin Samov.
