"Sofia Music Weeks": International Festival Features More Than 50 Events This Year

The 57th edition of Sofia Music Weeks opens on May 24, featuring more than 50 events in its main and accompanying programme.

The festival "Sofia Music Weeks" pays tribute to the amazing Raina Kabaivanska. It is students who have passed through the maestra's vocal school who will open this year's edition. Among the soloists shine the names of Vitoria Yeo, who has been a star of the international opera scene for years, Arsen Soghomonyan, who this season made his debut at the Metropolitan, and the young Bulgarian hope Alexandrina Mihailova, who is confidently making her way on the stages of Italy.

This year’s festival pays tribute to Raina Kabaivanska, with performers trained through the renowned soprano’s vocal school set to open the event.

Among the featured soloists are Vittoria Yeo, a long-established star on the international opera stage; Arsen Soghomonyan, who made his debut this season at the Metropolitan Opera; and rising Bulgarian talent Alexandrina Mihaylova, who is steadily building her career on stages across Italy.

Evtim Miloshev, Minister of Culture: “I believe this is something truly significant for music lovers and a major recognition from a world-renowned prima like Raina Kabaivanska toward our country, our culture, and the development of our talents.”

Maestro Nayden Todorov knows firsthand the enormous role of Raina Kabaivanska in preserving and passing on the true art of operatic singing.

The Sofia Philharmonic regularly invites world-renowned opera stars to perform in Bulgaria, and Todorov noted that international agents increasingly recommend singers whose careers began in Kabaivanska’s masterclass at New Bulgarian University.

Naiden Todorov, director of the Sofia Philharmonic: “The operatic voice is something by which Bulgaria measures itself before the world. Raina Kabaivanska is the person who discovers opera voices both in Bulgaria and beyond. I cannot imagine today’s opera world without what she is doing here in our country. What she achieves through this masterclass has an enormous impact not only on Bulgarian musical life, but on the global music scene as well.”

The opening of the Sofia Music Weeks is sure to be brilliant. And the fact that the maestra herself will attend the event in person is certain to make the occasion even more memorable and emotionally charged.