“Golden Muse”: life, tears and love

Director and Art-director of the First Russian Private Theatre in Bulgaria, member of the “Golden Muse” jury, actress and pedagogue

We met with Neli Volkova to learn how she succeeded to bring together so many stars. The wife of the prominent Bulgarian pianist Atanas Kurtev shared with us:

For me “Golden Muse” is life, tears and love. We invented the Muse almost impulsively ten years ago. It was only after some time that we realized how serous the initiative was. Now, without false modesty, I can say that this unpretentious, almost improvised award has transformed itself into a whole movement of intellectuals.

Why life? My entire life has been more or less connected with Bulgaria-Russia cultural relations, with the promotion of Russian culture in Bulgaria and with the promotion of Bulgarian culture in Russia.

Tears? Look at the flowers, the applause, the smiles, and the kisses – these are all pleasant and nice things. But what lies behind is the real trial. To build a private theatre in our days, to deal with art and culture, to look for sponsors – any sober person would define this as insanity. Yet, there should be people doing this, otherwise we will get back to the Stone Age. Tears, a sea of tears. Sometimes, indeed, they are tears of joy…

Love? Love should be the leading motive in everything we do in this world, otherwise things would have no sense.

For Neli Volkova everything begins with the founding of the First Russian Private Theatre. It recruited professional Bulgarian actors with an excellent command of the Russian language. It was this theatre that established the “Golden Muse” award back in 1994, thanks to the cooperation of the Russian Embassy and the personal collaboration of H.E. Mr. Alexander Avdeev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Bulgaria in the period 1992-1996. “We did not even have a prize fund for our first muses. However, we did have magnificent actors. And a prestigious jury. This year you could see what a serious initiative our Muse has become. Our prize fund is still limited, but we have sponsors for the the concert. Unfortunately, during those ten years the big companies, such as Lukoil, Overgas, etc., did not render their support even once. But we were helped, very professionally by Joker Media Ltd., the company which has been bearing the main load of this work for already several years. The president of the company Mr. Ovanes Melik-Pashaev is an extraordinary person, whose name is related with almost all grandiose Bulgarian-Russian cultural events: the recent visit of the Bolshoi Theatre soloists in Bulgaria Hall, for example, as well as the tours of Armen Dzhigarhanyan, Nikita Mikhalkov, Zurab Sotkilava, Iosif Kobzon, Yuri Bashmet, the Kuban Choir, etc. The Days of Russian Culture, the visits of Russian pop-singers – all these were realized thanks to the support of Joker Media Ltd. and Mr. Melik-Pashaev. Mr. Melik-Pashaev has a special attitude to culture. He is a man who tries to live so as not to be ashamed of his deeds. The jury nominated him businessman with greatest contributions to the cultural ties between our two countries and presented him with a “Golden Muse” award.

Aroma Cosmetics provides us with the presents. They also provided our first prize for 2003. For 9th year in a row, the International Center for Minority Issues has been donating us funds for Petko Genovs statuette. Many artists such as Stavri Kalinov and Stefan Nachkov present their works to the nominees. Mr. Ivan Granitski from Zahari Stoyanov Publishing House presented the laureates with books by Russian authors from the Russian Muse series, with magnificent translations. Vodka Doctor’s and Angela Book Company also provided us with wonderful presents. All involved in the “Golden Muse” work with unselfish enthusiasm for the preparation of the script and the organization of the event. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia, H. E. Mr. Vladimir Titov, hosted an impressive cocktail party in the Russian Embassy in honor of the nominees.”

Yet, in the heart of all this is the theatre.

“A Constellation of Muses”

The theatre presents literary-musical compositions and spectacles, aimed at popularizing Russian poetry and literature on stage. As a rule, we are working with prominent actors with good command of the Russian language. The musical settings are most often authored by prof. Atanas Kurtev and prof. Yosif Radionov. Our theatre had a benefit performance, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the actress Tanya Masalitinova, which turned out to be the top event of the year. The hall of the Russian Culture and Information Center proved small to host all willing to attend the event and salute the great actress. The benefit performance of the opera singer Roumen Doykov (20 years on stage) brought together the entire musical community. A few years ago we made a similar celebration for prof. Kurtev. Many figures of art refer to our theatre for their anniversaries but so far we have managed to organize only the said events, although we do have the desire to honor all prominent actors, musicians, artists and journalists.

The theatre itself does not boast a big repertoire. We staged several spectacles of Alexander Pushkin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Anna Akhmatova, Sergey Essenin, Alexander Blok. We do not have a permanent stage. Sometimes we hold our rehearsals in the Russian Culture and Information Center, sometimes at home. That is why our activities focus on the chamber performances, which can be rehearsed at any place. We do not need much for our sets – a table, a chair, a desk or a detail typical for the character. Our biggest spectacle was Lyudmil Dimitrovs Who murdered Pushkin?, with the participation of Gergana Kofardjieva-Grois, assoc. prof. Ivan Nalbantov, prof. Atanas Kurtev and myself, and directed by prof. Elena Baeva. We showed this spectacle in Sofia as well as in many other cities around the country.”