The State Opera – Ruse will present the ballet Carmen on the stage of the National Opera in Bucharest

Press release from the State Opera – Ruse

On 19 June 2025, at 7 p.m., on the stage of the National Opera in Bucharest, the State Opera – Ruse will present the ballet Carmen to the iconic music of Georges Bizet. The performance is choreographed and directed by Natalia Ossipova, conducted by maestro Viliana Valtcheva, and is part of the programme of the 2025 Bucharest International Opera Festival.

Plamen Beykov, director of the Ruse State Opera, said: “In the first days of 2025, at the initiative of His Excellency Radko Vlaykov, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to Romania, a series of working meetings were held between the management of the Ruse State Opera and the management of the Bucharest National Opera and the Bucharest Philharmonic. The outcome of these meetings was extremely fruitful – the Ruse Opera was invited to participate in the prestigious Bucharest Opera Festival, which we accept as a high recognition and a great honour. I am extremely happy that our participation will be with the ballet production ‘Carmen’, not only because of the power of the production itself, but also because of its symbolism. The first ‘Carmen’ in Ruse, in 1958, was produced by a Romanian team – director Ion Rănzescu and artists Teodor Suruceanu and Lidia Iovanescu. In their honour, an exhibition of 100 original costume sketches will be opened in the foyer of the Bucharest Opera House. This exhibition is our tribute to the memory of these remarkable Romanian artists and a symbol of our long-standing friendship with the Romanian cultural community. I hope that this visit will mark the beginning of a new stage in the partnership between the Red Opera and the most important cultural institutions in Romania. Art has the power to connect, and our mission is to build bridges between our peoples through it. “

The Bucharest International Opera Festival 2025 is a ten-day event that brings together the most important opera and ballet theatres in Romania and abroad and offers the public a true cultural experience. Over 1,500 artists, musicians and technicians from around the world are expected to participate in this year’s edition.

In recent years, the Red Opera has made significant appearances on stages in Bucharest. In March 2022, it performed the opera Ernani, and in 2024, the Rousse Opera Choir took part in two major concerts at the Palace Hall, as part of the Masters of Classic Festival, alongside world opera stars Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, and performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in collaboration with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo: (source: State Opera – Ruse)

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Vladimir Mitev

Vladimir Mitev is a Bulgarian Romanian-speaking journalist. He has interacted with many Bulgarian and Romanian media outlets, including Bulgarian National Radio, Mediapool, all major Bulgarian television stations, Darik Radio, and more (Bulgaria); Radio Romania, The Liberal Community 1848, all the major Romanian television stations; DoR; Libertatea; PressHub; and others (Romania); The Analysis, Acorn Radio (USA); Open Democracy (UK); voxEurop (France); the Observatory for the Balkans and the Caucasus; The Other News (Italy); The Institute for Central Europe (Poland); Argument (Czechia); Merce (Hungary); Bilten (Croatia); and Agora (the Republic of Moldova).
He promotes the idea of non-hegemonic, mutually empowering interactions in Central and Southeastern Europe that could contribute to the formation of a dynamic regional identity and connect citizens to the global community.

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