Giacomo Puccini

Stara Zagora Opera House Stara Zagora New Opera House

BLUE DANUBE PRODUCTIONS and the BULGARIAN STATE OPERA - STARA ZAGORA, an important opera house in Eastern Europe, proudly announce a Puccini Masterclass (Worldwide) for Conductors to be held between 12 - 24 June 2006 in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. The focus of the Masterclass will be the essential operas by Giacomo Puccini: LA BOHEME, MADAMA BUTTERFLY and TOSCA.

The Masterclass will accept a small group of qualified conductors who will work with the company's orchestra, chorus, ballet, pianists and soloists on a daily basis. The Masterclass will culminate with public performances of each of the three operas (fully-staged and sung in Italian).

Read an article on the 2002 Opera Masterclass.

CONDUCTORS will have the opportunity to conduct major sections of all three operas in rehearsal and ca. 1/2 of one of the three in a public performance. Coaching and instruction (including video review) will be provided by Maestro Boris Hinchev, currently a regular conductor at the Bulgarian National Opera in Sofia.

The Masterclass fee (tuition) is 2,500 EUR. Accommodation is not included in this fee. Ground transportation will be provided (without extra charge) to and from Sofia's international airport and train station.

Interested conductors should contact Blue Danube Productions in Vienna, Austria immediately at: puccini@bluedanubeviolins.com or telephone: +43 1 405 40 30.

HOTEL INFORMATION

The Hotel HUT is situated in Aiazmo park and is 15 minutes from the opera house. This hotel offers very good conditions after a recent renovation. Single room - 20 EUR with half board (breakfast and one meal) an additional 8 EUR per day.

Hotel VEREIA is only 150 meters from the opera house. Single room - 46 EUR which includes half board. Double rooms for 52 EUR.

Blue Danube Productions will make reservations for the participating conductors.

Maestro Boris Hinchev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1933 and began his formal education in music first at the Lubomir Pipkov Music School (1945-1952) and later at the National Academy of Music (1954-1957), where he studied conducting and composition. He undertook advanced studies in Italy (at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano) with Gianandrea Gavazzeni and Antonino Votto (1960-1962). His first professional appointments were as a conductor with the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra (1956-1961) and for the Bulgarian Opera in Ruse (1957-1962). He was chief conductor for the Stefan Makdenonski Music Theatre in Sofia (1983-1990). Currently, Hinchev is a conductor at the National Opera in Sofia - a relationship he has had since 1966.

Boris Hinchev is an important teacher of conducting and pedagogue as well as an opera coach in his native Bulgaria. Several generations of Bulgarian artists (conductors and vocal artists) have studied and worked with him. Since 1970, he has taught at several institutions in Sofia -- at the National Academy of Music, and since 1995, at the New Bulgarian University. As a guest conductor, he has appeared widely, working in Italy (with Giuseppe di Stefano and Ettore Bastianini), Spain (with Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Juan Pons and Elena Obrazova), Holland, South America, France, Malta, Russia and Switzerland.

Hinchev is important too for his recorded legacy with prestigious record companies. He has recorded operas by Puccini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Cilea, Giordano and Mascagni as well as contemporary music (symphonic) by Bulgarian composers.

Maestro Hinchev’s repertoire is unusually comprehensive -- it includes all important operatic, ballet and symphonic works. He is also notable for the first Bulgarian performances of La Fanciulla del West by Puccini, Story of a Real Man by Prokofiev, the Miraculous Mandarin and Duke Bluebeard’s Castle by Bartok, La forza del destino by Verdi, and Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilea.

The Bulgarian stage director, Ognian Draganov, studied music performance (trumpet and piano) and opera direction in Bulgaria (with Plamen Kartaloff) and France (with Albert-Andre Lheureux). After a brief period as a member of the Sofia National Opera Orchestra (trumpet), he quickly established himself as an important stage/opera director in southeastern Europe, working as stage director and later general director for the Sofia National Opera as well a resident and guest (opera) director for companies in Greece, Macedonia, and Romania. His productions are regularly seen in productions that tour western Europe, particularly in the Netherlands. Already in command of a large repertoire, his conceptions and productions are generally overarching, including sets, costumes and lighting in addition to stage action.