SOFIA — On the first of December, the AGBU Sofia Chamber Orchestra accompanied two accomplished soprano soloists in its final concert for the year, ringing in the festive Christmas season with “warm, bright, and beautiful musical experiences,” as the AGBU characterized it. The first-class orchestra, which regularly invites artists from all over the world, performed in the Central Military Club of Sofia under the direction of renowned conductor Maestro Levon Manukyan,
The guest artists were the Armenian Lusine Arakelyan and the Bulgarian Rositsa Matanieva; the former is a soprano with a rich, dramatic voice who has performed widely in Yerevan, where she also teaches, and on opera and concert stages internationally for many years. The latter, with a more lyrical soprano voice, is at the beginning of a promising career, and has taken part in a variety of projects, mainly related to musicals. The program reflected the variety of their musical accomplishments, with arias from classical works of opera, — as well as operetta–, film music, and selections from Armenian music.
Arakelyan displayed her wide-ranging repertoire with Rusalka’s aria from the opera “Rusalka” by Antonin Dvorak, Sylva’s song from the operetta “Die Csardaszfürstin” (The Csardasz Princess) by Emmerich Kalman, Luigi Arditi’s song, “Il bacio” (The Kiss), and the popular song by Agustin Lara, “Granada.” The orchestra appeared to be particularly excited and joyous when she sang two Armenian pieces, Im Mayrig (My Mother) by Alexander Adjemyan and Agavniner (Doves) by Geghuni Chitchyan.
The second soloist, Matanieva, added musical nuances to the program with her presentation of works by Pietro Mascagni and Ennio Morricone, as well as the Neapoliton favorite O sole mio. In a duet, the sopranos sang Jacques Offenbach’s Barcarolle from his opera, “The Tales of Hoffmann.”
As a special musical surprise for the audience, the orchestra and conductor had prepared and arrangement by Michael Hopkins, I’ll be Bach for Christmas. The festive spirit of the piece, which brings together excerpts from the most famous string works by Bach and popular Christmas songs into a single composition, delighted the audience of about 300 people.
(Material from the AGBU was used in this report.)
