Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Kasarova mania: revisiting the 2008 Bulgarian Encounters Euromaxx series

Euromaxx's Bulgarian Encounters television documentary series hosted by Vesselina Kasarova aired in 2008, so I was surprised to find that the videos are still alive and active on the Deutsche-Welle archive! Anyhow, if you missed it, here are the links to the 6 clips (they're about 5 minutes long each):

1. The Artist: VK arrives back home for a visit. Cool chat with her one and only voice coach, Prof. Ressa Koleva, recounting some early roles and performances. A little rehearsal snippet from Berlioz's La damnation de Faust from 1999 Salzburg Festival.
2. The Opera: VK visits Sofia Opera House where she began her singing career. They still have her Nabucco costumes! A look at the (then) newly renovated auditorium, and a bit from her masterclass.
3. The Home Town: VK visits her hometown, Stara Zagora, meets old instrumentalist friends, show off the town's modern bar, the opera house, old Roman auditorium, town centre & park.
4. The Cuisine: A trip to the town's farmers' market before tossing up delicious Shopska salad and an impromptu jamming session of the folksong 'Melodiya' with her harpist & flautist pals.
5. The Wine: A visit to the Katarzyna Winery, whose sweet red caused her to break into song ('Kalimanku, denku').
6. The Rose Oil: How rose oil is made at Bulgaria Septopolis, the scent of Bulgaria!

2 comments:

Bela said...

This is so awesome Smorg! Thanks for sharing, it's in German so I couldn't understand a thing, but I sort of got the main idea hahahaha
:)

Anonymous said...

I did not miss these first time round but never get tired of watching. Thank you for the timely reminder - very welcome!