Sofia National Opera

Bulgaria's principal opera company traces its line to the Bulgarian Opera Society, founded in 1908, and grew through successive municipal and state arrangements before receiving national status. Its repertory runs from Bulgarian and Russian works to the Italian, French and German staples, and a full ballet company works alongside the opera. The house's distinction has always been vocal: Boris Christoff, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Ghena Dimitrova and Raina Kabaivanska all belong to its history, and the succession of great bass voices in particular gave twentieth-century Bulgaria a standing presence on the world's operatic stages. Orchestra, chorus and ballet remain in permanent employment, which allows Sofia a year-round repertory season of a kind that has become rare.