This year the Katya Popova Laureate Days festival marked half a century since its founding. Created at the idea of great opera singer Katya Popova (born in Pleven), the festival takes place every two years. The forum presents young artists who received awards from prestigious international competitions. The thirtieth edition started with "Tosca" performed by guest soloists, the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gena Dimitrova Municipal Choir – Pleven, and the "Harlequin" Children’s Choir at the “Saglasie” Community Center. The performance was dedicated to the 75th anniversary since the birth of Gena Dimitrova - another world-famous singer, also linked to Pleven. Interest towards the Laureate Days was extremely high. Let us recall that years ago the opera in the city was closed and the cultural community continues to make efforts for its restoration.

"For me, this is the second participation in the Laureate Days,” said conductor Nayden Todorov minutes after the performance. “It was a wonderful show that is very special for me because it is dedicated to Gena Dimitrova. She was truly unique singer and I had the incredible chance to know her. In recent years we had a number of performances in Pleven, but with the huge support of the Rousse Opera. I wish these wonderful orchestras to become the basis for the revival of the Pleven Opera with the support of the Ministry of Culture. I believe that it will resist this nihilism and negativism. Among the soloists was famous tenor Piero Guiliacci, who arrived from Italy. Yordanka Derilova is one of the singers who spread the fame of Bulgaria across the world – she is not only an exceptional singer, but also an exceptional actress. Alexander Krunev is absolutely amazing. The Laureate Days give a chance to the Bulgarian audience to meet with artists whom they will only be able to watch them on TV in the near future.”

Here is what Piero Guiliacci said:

“This is the first time I am in Bulgaria and it is a very emotional experience for me because I feel at home. This is because of the people, the cuisine and the climate. I feel great on stage here and I hope that I would come back to Bulgaria to sing again.”

Among the young laureates were representatives of Ukraine, Croatia, Russia and Japan. During one of the evenings the program was dedicated to laureates of international competitions from Pleven. Performers were Yana Zelenogorska – violin, Martin Pavlov- flute, and others.

Lubomir Diakovski - head of the Pleven Philharmonic and one of the organizers of the festival is convinced that good practices from the past should be kept.

“We want to preserve old tradition,” he says. “In the past we used to organise opera performances with winners of major international competitions. We should bring back the open opera stage. I have an idea for a ballet with young laureates. For every festival it would be an honour to welcome the musicians who took part in the program. Violinist Lia Petrova won the first prize at the Carl Nielsen Festival in April and recently Victoria Vasilenko became the winner of the first prize at the George Enescu Festival.”

Two young ladies performed in the final concert together with the "Sofia Soloists".

One of the biggest enthusiasts who support the Laureate Days is mayor of Pleven, Georg Spartanski:

“They have a special place in the cultural life of Pleven and the forum has 50 years of history. The ambitious task that we set is to restore the high level of the festival and thus the pride of Pleven as it has given the world music talents such as Katya Popova, Gena Dimitrova, Emil Dimitrov. Pleven is a city that is deservedly proud of its rich traditions in the field of culture.”

English: Alexander Markov