“It is foolish to make plans for life without being sure in tomorrow.” These words, belonging to Lucius Annaeus Seneca, which have been proven true so long ago, seem particularly fitting now, in 2020. A year which started like any other – with a whole lot of plans, new ideas and enthusiasm, but then, all of a sudden in March, we all seemed to start living in a new reality, more like some kind of fantasy movie. The Covid-19 pandemic overturned the agenda, and the priorities of people in Europe and the world.
A number of cultural and other public events planned in advance were cancelled or postponed in the hope that the worst of the coronacrisis would be over. Bulgaria is no exception, and after the initial complete freeze of all cultural events, actors, musicians, artists started to look for alternative ways to reach out to audiences. Gradually some events started taking place - outdoors, to a limited audience and in compliance with all anti-epidemic measures.
That is what happened to the festival which opens in Sofia today, 20 August. Having been scheduled for the beginning of July, Sofia Summer Festival was pushed back to the second half of August. Its venue is the space popularly known as Southern Park 2 (next to the National Palace of Culture and the Earth and Man Museum). It will go on until the end of September, and the open-air programme will offer a heady brew of music, theatre, the latest in films but also our favourite movies. Admission to some of the events is free, tickets for others are available online.
The film screenings are most diverse, featuring Bulgarian movies like Monkey (2016) directed by Dimitar Kotzev-Shosho and The Father (2019) by Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva, but also European films from the selection for this year’s edition of the Master of Art festival. The theatre shows from the programme are from the repertoire of the Sofia theatres - Theatre 199 and Vuzrazhdane. The musicians who will perform at the festival include the inimitable Ivo Dimchev, and the Bulgarian rock band SEVI.
What would be the motivation in times of political crises, wars, migrant pressure and an unclear future to dream of a unified European university for film and media? An educated and cultured nation is much more difficult to manipulate..
"The Way of the Musicians" (Musicorum Via) is the name of the joint initiative of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Music (NMA), which opens in the "Professor Marin Drinov" Hall of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. "During..
The Symphony Orchestra of Vratsa – Simfonieta, has become a haven for violinist Alena Chekhova. She was born in the Russian city of Tyumen /Western Siberia/, raised in Ukrainian Crimea and lived in Moscow for more than 10 years, where..
With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead , young Boyan Kracholov - one of the most compelling contemporary Bulgarian theatre directors - makes his debut..
The first major ballet event in the festive jubilee programme celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Stara Zagora Opera is the premiere of "Parisian..
Partly Cloudy
Mostly Cloudy
Clear