Ognyan Stamboliev
From 2022 Ivan Kyurkchiev is the artistic manager of the Bucharest Opera. He is a graduate of the music school in Ruse with a degree in viola and opera singing. In the last year of his studies in opera singing at the Conservatory in Sofia, he was chosen to specialise at La Scala in Milan, the specialisation lasting two years. In the second year, he won the Enrico Caruso Competition, after which he was given the opportunity to remain working in Italy. Kyurkchiev has sung in many Italian cities, in South America, in Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Budapest, Prague and other European cities. In 1996 he became the director of the State Opera – Ruse for the first time. In 2000 he founded the “Opera Verdi” impresario company, which organizes performances of almost all Bulgarian opera houses in Europe and the USA. At the end of 2017 Ivan Kyurkchiev became the director of the State Opera – Ruse for the second time. As the artistic manager of the Bucharest Opera, he organized a number of events related to classical music between Bulgaria and Romania.
Dear Mr. Kyurkchiev, on 27 June 2024, one of the leading music institutes of Greece, the Thessaloniki State Philharmonic Orchestra, will be visiting the Philharmonia Hall (House of Culture) in Ruse for the first time, at your invitation. How did you choose this particular ensemble and what can you tell us about it?
The Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra is one of the main cultural organisations in Greece and probably the most prestigious musical ensemble in our southern neighbour. It was founded in 1959 by Greek-Cypriot composer Solon Michaelides and currently consists of 112 first-class musicians. The orchestra has a rich creative biography. It has performed throughout Europe. The orchestra has worked with major conductors and soloists, with a vast repertoire, some of which it records regularly at the invitation of the world’s leading record companies, such as EMI, BIS, NAXOS and DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON…
Our compatriot, the charming Liya Petrova, a rising young world star, will be the soloist at the concert in Ruse. She is already known to the Bulgarian audience…
Yes, she is! She plays regularly with many wonderful musicians such as Beatrice Rana, Emmanuel Pahoud, Pablo Fernández, Marta Argeric, Misha Majeski, René Capuçon, Augustin Dumas, James Ennes, Nicolas Angelic, Aurélien Pascal and Gauthier Capuçon.
And what will this festive summer gala contain?
It is in two parts. In the first – the favourite of all music lovers “Violin Concerto” by P.I. Tchaikovsky, and in the second – something new and interesting – the symphony of a world-famous Greek composer – Charilaos Perpesas.
You have been in the beautiful city of Bucharest for three years now. How did your third season as artistic manager impresario of the National Opera of Bucharest end? I would like to underline here that you are the only Bulgarian invited to work for this world-class opera house.
After a series of successful opera and ballet premieres, the season ended with the Bucharest Opera Festival, dedicated to the centenary of the death of the great maestro Giacomo Puccini. More than 1,500 singers, instrumentalists and technical staff are present on the stage of Opera Română to perform almost all of his operas. These were the opera houses of Budapest, Diegu from South Korea, as well as those of Cluj, Iași, Timișoara, Brașov, Galați, Constanța… 9 in total!
In the 1950s to the 1970s, the Bucharest and Ruse operas were in close relations. There were regular artistic exchanges. Our singers, directors and conductors, as well as theirs, were well known to the audiences of both cities. As director of the Rousse Opera, you introduced the Rousse artists to a wonderful production of Verdi’s Ernani with the great tenor and conductor José Cura in Bucharest. Do you have the idea to arrange a guest appearance of the Romanian opera in Bulgarian?
Maybe one day it will happen.
And will this programme of the musicians from Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian violin virtuoso Liya Petrova be performed elsewhere than in Ruse?
Yes, after Rousse on Thursday 27 June it will be performed on Saturday 29 June at the Athenaeum in Bucharest. The conductor will be Yannis Pouspourikas.
Perhaps few people know that the beautiful Atheneum, the symbol of Bucharest, was built with a solid financial help from the merchant brothers and patrons Evlogi and Georgi Georgiev. They were also among the builders of the University of Bucharest…. And why did you choose the Philharmonic Hall (House of Culture) for this concert in Ruse? Maybe because of the excellent acoustics? Or because of the long tradition of big concerts being performed there?
Exactly, because of the excellent acoustics. Besides, Philharmonia Hall was made just for symphony concerts. Experts describe it as one of the few acoustic halls in the country.
What new ensembles and artists would you like to invite to our country and also to Romania, for which you are now working successfully?
In 2025 in Bulgaria and Bucharest I have invited the big companies from Paris with the musicals of Notre Dame de Paris and Romeo et Juliette.
I wish you success in your noble work to bring the musical cultures of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece closer together.
Photo: The Bulgarian violin virtuoso Liya Petrova (source: https://www.liyapetrova.com/)
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