Bulgaria’s great voices: from Boris Christoff to Sonya Yoncheva

About Bulgaria’s great voices: from Boris Christoff to Sonya Yoncheva

By the ULTIMATE Sofia Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Few countries have given the world as many great opera singers as Bulgaria. Basses such as Boris Christoff and Nicolai Ghiaurov, and sopranos including Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova, Anna Tomowa-Sintow and, today, Sonya Yoncheva, have sung leading roles at the great houses of Europe and America.

A nation of singers

Bulgaria’s choral tradition, in the Orthodox Church and in folk music, has produced generations of strong, well-trained voices, and the conservatoire in Sofia has long been one of the best schools of singing in the region.

The great basses

Boris Christoff (1914–1993) was one of the great basses of the 20th century, famous above all as Boris Godunov. Nicolai Ghiaurov (1929–2004) followed him onto the world’s stages, and Bulgarian basses became a byword in opera houses everywhere. Christoff’s house in Sofia is now a small museum.

Bulgaria’s basses gave Boris Godunov his most famous voices.

The sopranos

Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova and Anna Tomowa-Sintow became stars of Italian and German opera from the 1960s to the 1990s, and Sonya Yoncheva, born in Plovdiv in 1981, is one of the leading sopranos of today.

Opera in Sofia today

The Sofia Opera and Ballet stages a full repertoire of Italian, Russian and Bulgarian opera, ballet and, in summer, open-air productions, including Wagner and festival performances. Bulgaria Hall, home of the Sofia Philharmonic, hosts recitals and orchestral concerts.

Our advice: book a night at the Sofia Opera and Ballet, and pair it with a visit to the Boris Christoff Museum; check our What’s on listings for this season’s performances.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Bulgaria’s great voices: from Boris Christoff to Sonya Yoncheva before you go.