The Facts To Know About The National Opera And Ballet Of Bulgaria

The National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria is a national cultural institution that covers opera and ballet. It is located in a building in Sofia, the capital. What are the facts you should know about this historical monument.

The history of the National Opera and Ballet art of Bulgaria begins in 1890 with the establishment of the Capital Opera and Drama Company. Not long after their creation the two bodies split. They gave birth to a theatrical company called Salza i Smiah (Tears and Laughter) and the Bulgarian Opera. Yet, as sad as it may sound, the latter was closed down soon after it opened doors because of financial difficulties.

However, the lack of financial support couldn’t stop the desire of Bulgarian artists and intellectuals to develop this art.

In 1908 the Bulgarian Opera Society was established following the first full opera performance one year later. This time Bulgarian opera developed much more successfully and very soon a permanent group of performers, choir, orchestra, ballet, technical and production crew were working there. 

As a result the opera managed to present to the Bulgarian audience numerous ballet premieres every year as well as concerts. As time passed, the Bulgarian Opera established a repertory of world-wide classics; Also it started to work with renowned Bulgarian composers. In addition to that, many of the most famous Bulgarian opera performers such as Nicolai Ghiaurov, Nicola Ghiuselev, and Ghena Dimitrova started their careers in the Bulgarian opera.

In the 20s both Bulgarian opera and ballet were on the rise.

A national ballet company was established. The first ballet performance in Bulgaria took place in 1928 while the opera was nationalized and called National Opera. Furthermore, a National Opera and Ballet’s building was designed in 1921 but it wasn’t before 1953 that it opened doors. In fact, during World War 2 the opera was shut down. But it restored shortly after the end of the war with a serious increase of government financial support.

Nowadays, the Bulgarian opera and ballet keep offering their audience unique experiences.

If you’ve nerver been there, you absolutely have to attend some of the performances proposed by the place. The place also works along with artists from all over the world. Another important element that contributes to the uniqueness of the experience is the orchestra that consists of extremely talented professionals.

Then, when you add the affordable prices to the equation, there is not any doubt that you should book a ticket right now!

Cover picture @National opera and ballet of Bulgaria.

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Madame Bulgaria is a webzine (a blog) launched in June 2016 in English. Our aim is to show to the world how Bulgaria is a very nice country, full of potential. We cover all kind of topics – Lifestyle, Culture, Places, Food, People, Tourism, Beauty, Fashion, Business, Ecosystem, and More. We try to be as objective as possible. Madame Bulgaria crew works every week to offer a new, fresh and dynamic content on Bulgaria.