"To give up love for love..."
words of Associate Professor Nina Naydenova, who staged "La Traviata" at the Rousse Opera in honour of its 75th anniversary.
Nina Naydenova is one of the leading opera directors in Bulgaria with more than 50 productions in the opera houses in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Varna, Ruse, Music Theatre Sofia and more than 70 performances in overseas tours in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and the USA.
Here is what she told Diana Dimitrova - PR of the State Opera - Ruse, days before the jubilee performance of Verdi's masterpiece "La Traviata", which in 1949, on November 27, started the centenary of the Ruse opera theatre:
1. You have not staged on the Ruse stage for a long time, but at the beginning of this anniversary season for Ruse Opera, we remembered your real gem, directed here, namely the opera "Turandot". Now you are already working on the anniversary "La Traviata". A title that marked the beginning of the State Opera - Ruse in 1949. Are you excited?
I have always had respect for the history of Rousse Opera. Over the years it has been an emblem of creative achievements more than once. Here have been born epochal productions that have marked the trends in the development of Bulgarian culture. As a director, I can't help but be satisfied about the stage life of the production of Turandot, born in 2005 and almost 20 years later, it is still relevant with its ideas about the battle between "house and order", "power and love" to find balance and harmony in our existence and relationships. A theme that the artistic team took as their own and embodied on stage with convincing energy.
Mr. Beykov's invitation to do exactly "La Traviata", the first production that marked the beginning of Rousse Opera, was more than respectable and more than a responsibility. A title that is woven into the DNA of every theatre, and for Ruse even more so, because it carries the sentiment of the Renaissance spirit of the first artists, of the first audience, of what united people in the idea of creating an institution that gives spirit and culture to their city, to their community.
It's exciting!
2. How did the rehearsals go and how will your concept differ, considering that this title has been staged a lot in Ruse over the years?
We have worked with our colleagues from the Rousse Opera more than once after Turandot, we created together also Love Elixir and Macbeth and I always rediscover the company with its desire to develop and create art with the most sincere and professional handwriting. Each director brings their own style of working towards creative provocation and the ensemble has to adapt quickly, and meet the different demands. I'm grateful that in rehearsals we feel this trust in each other, that we unite around the idea of the performance and the power of the suggestions we want to reach. I think this is also a guarantor of the strength of the show. The director creates a concept - he works on it alone and with his team, long before he meets the performers, and no matter how strong the stage decision is, if there is no reflection of these performers, if they don't believe in the idea, if they don't become a team of like-minded people, the performance is doomed. Here in Rousse, you can feel the chemistry of "what's going on" and even in a title like this, which has been performed dozens of times over the years, we manage to find relevant themes today, to weave them in with the pulse of Verdi's dramaturgy, so that even in rehearsals, our eyes water with excitement.
3. You have staged this very opera more than once at home and abroad. Do you continue the line of these performances or do you make a new beginning?
I have staged "La Traviata" in three other theatres - two in Bulgaria and one abroad, but each time I start from scratch. Each production bears the scars of the composer's time and the era in which the story is set, in addition to the pulse of the time "today", precisely because the audience we are going to present to has its own themes, ideas and problems through which it must become empathetic to the characters of "then". I always consider even the city, the attitudes of the audience, the way of life in a local context. Do you know how interesting it is, we filmmakers "swim" in different times - eras, mores, societies, culture, art and in this ocean we find what is "important" of today, what to talk about to today's people, to make them feel, to be excited, to think. Our profession in this respect is an exciting adventure, but also a great responsibility! It is a responsibility to transmit messages coded by authors - composers through time. From an artist to all who trust you - artists, but also an audience waiting to be moved and provoked to think through their emotion.
4. How do you feel about this dramatic story and fate of Violeta Valeri? And does suffering always bring us only negatives, in your opinion?
Violetta Valéry - Verdi's La Traviata /the roadless one translated from Italian/, who is a historical person described in a novella by Dumas by the name of Marguerite Gautier. Dumas is deeply emotionally moved by the life of a woman who became a myth, who lived in his time and who bore the simple name of Alphonsine Plessis. Alphonsine is immortalised as a heroine, albeit with the fate of a courtesan, by two titans of the pen - Dumas and Verdi. What was it that excited them - was it only doomed love? I think it's both the strength of this woman and the decisions she makes. The moment she has the choice to escape the vicious relationships of a false society, to be happy, to love, to love, to heal for a new life, she does her "Good Deed", she gives it all up to give a girl a "future". The father of her beloved, her Alfred, begs her to save his daughter because Violetta's past tarnishes the reputation of not only his son, but his daughter as well. If she can't save her son, at least save her daughter. It's an ingenious scene - a duet between Violetta and Verdi's father Germont. A piece of dramaturgy that is a model of how music convinces with the power of its suggestion more powerfully than all the words in the world. It is here that Violetta does the great deed of her life, atoning for her past - she gives a Future to another!
The stage narrative unfolds in the contrast of the destruction of a society, of which Violetta herself is a part, and the possibility of living "simply", of being loved and loving. To accept the mistakes of one's past in order to give another a chance at a future, in the hope that it will be a happier one, one that you yourself have dreamed of but never had. A strong theme that provokes thought today. What could awaken us to such sacrifice, more so in the name of love? Is it possible?
5. You are an outstanding opera director with over 70 productions in the operas in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Varna, Ruse, Sofia, and not a few foreign tours, a long-time director of Plovdiv Opera, currently its deputy director of creative production, and now you work in the management team of the National Palace of Culture, you are also a lecturer at New Bulgarian University. How do you see the future of this eclectic art and in particular of opera theatres in Bulgaria?
Opera mirrors more than one philosophy of life. The language of music is proven to be the most powerful and close to human emotion. Only in opera can the expressive means of literature, fine arts, architecture, history, philosophy, sociology, psychology be brought together. Centuries, epochs, currents intertwine in opera. It is alive and will evolve, it will seek its contemporary face. It is a question of how much and how there will be a "political" will to preserve and develop it, a society that will recognize and support it. I am convinced, however, that behind every progress there are personalities - those we call "renaissance men". They can be artists and musicians and authors - composers, writers, directors, conductors, all committed to the cause of a world in which culture and music - opera - play an essential role in the harmony of a society.
