/ world today news/ BULGARIAN MUSIC FESTIVALS – those of art music, incorrectly called only “classical” – have a considerable history and definitely good traditions that can fit them into the context of festivals in today’s Europe. Three of them are the largest and oldest: March Days of Ruse (founded in 1960 by the tireless Iliya Temkov), Varna Summer (1926, founded by Dobri Hristov and Pancho Vladigerov) and Sofia Weeks (1971 ). They are also in the International Association of European Music Festivals, they enjoy authority, they are known around the world.
Apart from them, there are other large cultural centers with different scale and quality music forums: Pleven – “Katya Popova” Laureate Days, Burgas – “Emil Chakerov” Music Days, Stara Zagora – Opera and Ballet Festival, Pazardzhik Winter Evenings, Musical “Dimitar Nenov” Days, Razgrad, “Nedyalka Simeonova” Days in Haskovo, Chamber Music Days in Gabrovo, Chamber Music Festival in Plovdiv, etc. Almost all of them are municipal, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and other institutions, until 1989, and of the creative unions – Union of Bulgarian Composers and Union of Musicians in Bulgaria.
Until November 10, 1989
ALMOST EVERY county town in Bulgaria had some kind of music festival, even if it didn’t have a musical institution – an opera theater or a symphony orchestra – which are usually the basis of these events. The collapse that occurred after this historic date had a very bad effect on the country’s cultural and, in particular, musical life. The funds for serious music decreased significantly, the production of the institutes decreased, a decline in its quality was noticed, an outflow of the audience, staffing problems appeared. At the end of 1999, the government of Ivan Kostov dealt a crushing blow to opera and symphonic life in Bulgaria. The reform “OFD” – opera-philharmonic society or the mechanical unification of musical theaters and symphony orchestras proved to be disastrous for these otherwise good and proven their viability and quality musical formations in the big cities: Plovdiv, Ruse, Burgas and Varna. Subsequent governments, among them the current one of GERB /turned its back on culture!/, with the absurd, unprecedented in Europe and the world, “delegated budgets”, did not correct this unprecedented reform and the crisis deepened significantly. Because it is absurd, ridiculous to want an orchestra to win from Mozart and Tchaikovsky, an opera from Verdi and Puccini. That is, almost self-supporting. It is nowhere to be found – not even in the countries with the oldest and most developed musical culture. And this “reform” had a serious impact on festivals as well, since these institutions – orchestras and operas – are at their core, and the reduction of funds and other aspects of the crisis left their mark on them. Some of these forums were sensitively affected due to the indifference of the host municipalities (Burgas, Haskovo, Lovech, Dobrich, Plovdiv, etc.), while others continued on their way, supported by the local authorities (Ruse, Varna, St. Zagora, Pazardzhik, Razgrad).
In the near past The state’s concern for these cultural events was really great. Their presence in the spiritual and social life of the city was palpable. They were something like the cultural emblem of the respective municipality. Like a “peacock feather”. This was felt most strongly in Ruse, where the March Days were the event of the year, with a very wide public resonance, with great support from the authorities and interest from the citizens. The festivals in Varna and St. Zagora – the second is the only opera forum so far in our country, and the Opera House in the City of Poets and Limes, founded way back in 1925, is now the pride of the people of Staro Zagora.
The last, so far, national review of the Bulgarian symphony orchestras, which took place in the spring of the landmark year 1989, showed a rather enviable level of symphonic life in our country. Most of the orchestras performed at a highly professional level with difficult, problematic repertoire and were led by a galaxy of great conductor-musicians. Unfortunately, most of these conductors are no longer alive or have left their posts. The new generation, with rare exceptions, turned out not to possess such qualities. The reform, the crisis, the changes, the opening of the borders – all this led to changes in the compositions. The chronic shortage of funds for culture, and especially for music, also affected the level of festivals, even the three big ones that are regular members of the European Association of Music Festivals – Ruse, Sofia and Varna. They can no longer attract large symphony ensembles, opera and ballet theaters, world names and formations to their stages and concert podiums. March Days welcomed Kurt Mazur, Svyatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, the orchestras of St. Petersburg and Moscow, Berlin and Prague. Varna enjoyed Piccola Scala and the Roman virtuosos, Irina Arkhipova, Katya Richarelli and Nicolae Herlia. Now the scales are different. But perhaps the most seriously affected in this regard were the Sofia Music Weeks. In the 1970s and 1980s, they welcomed major European theaters and orchestras and even Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, soloists of the Milan scale, and 5-6 years ago they gave dates for a performance of… the Pazardzhik amateur operetta. Of course, the management in the person of the composer Dimitar Tapkov was also to blame for this, which could not cope with either the program or the problems. Unfortunately, the Bulgarian state still does not sufficiently support these important cultural events
IF WE LOOK East, not West, we will make sure that, despite the similar crisis situation, in the former social countries the festivals enjoy greater attention. The “Enescu” festival in neighboring Romania has a huge budget – from 2,500,000 USD. e. and enjoys worldwide recognition. This is also the case in Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, and Serbia. In these countries, the government, the parliament and the president are involved in the big festivals! And our most serious festival at the moment – March Days, is made with a modest 300,000 – 350,000 BGN, while the longer one – Varna Summer – costs only about 500,000 BGN. The “Enescu” festival is under the patronage of the President of Romania and the entire government participates in its organization.
Media support is also a problem for our festivals
WHILE IN THE PAST they have been well-regarded, now they pass away, if not in silence, then with some brief and insufficiently precise and competently written note or information. At the same time, most of these mass publications (now mostly yellow) devote a lot of space to subcultural products (Gloria, Azis, Crisco, Slavi), gossip, sensationalism and too much to sports and politics. Thus, the cultural public in our country can hardly get any information, for example, that the March Days are visited by luminaries of the rank of Sir Nevil Mariner, Misha Maiski, Matthias Goerne Gidon Kremer or Yuri Bashmet, that Katya Richarelli or Vladimir Atlantov sang at Varna Summer, that Ana Tomova-Sintova visited Stara Zagora. Unfortunately, musical Bulgaria does not have a single musical newspaper or magazine, with the exception of the edition of the Union of Musicians magazine “Musical Horizons”, which has a limited circulation. There are no cultural publications left in our country, and these events simply do not have a stand. The electronic media hardly cover the events of the festivals, with the exception of some live broadcasts or recordings on BNR and Channel 1. But they are too rare and insufficient. The second most important television, bTV, is so far too far not only from art music, but even from culture. I will again give an example of our northern neighbor – the “Enescu” festival is broadcast and recorded there in its entirety, and the concerts and performances are three times a day for three weeks with subsidiary stages in Cluj, Brasov, Timisoara and Iași.
Another problem is the audience. In the past it was more numerous. Now it has decreased, but the festival halls in our country are still full. The audience for the regular concerts is smaller. The reasons are many and varied. In Bulgaria, a certain decline in interest in serious art is already noticeable. Generations have changed, young people are not joining the culture. The school, the family, the media have no small fault. The good tradition of aesthetic and musical education was interrupted, the “Bulgarian Musical Youth” movement, which came to our country on the French model in the 1960s and gave very good results, the aesthetic and sound environment created mainly by electronic media – chalga, rap , pop-folk, disco, etc. Moving away from true values in music. A topic that requires a serious public debate, as well as the intervention of the state.
Over the past fifteen years, our major festivals have been supported not only by the Ministry of Culture and local municipalities, but also quite actively by the embassies and cultural centers of European countries in Sofia. The largest is the help from the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the French Institute, Kulturkontakt, Austria, and also from the diplomatic missions of countries such as Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary, etc.
Festivals in our country, despite the crisis, have a future and must be supported by the state.
Where the festival has good and capable management, as it is in Varna – Penka Zhivkova, Nikolay Kutin, Plamena Tsoneva, and especially in Ruse – Iva Chavdarova, funds are still found and the level is high. In recent years, various cultural centers and foundations from Europe with headquarters in Sofia have especially helped: the Goethe Institute, the British Council, Pro Helvetia, the Italian Institute, the French Institute, as well as the embassies of Japan, France, Austria, and Russia. Thanks to their support, stars of European stature, various chamber formations and ensembles are already arriving at our major festivals. And these tours become true festivals of Euterpa and delight the worshipers of great music.
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