Prague, July 12 (CTK) – Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas and Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu will sing at the opening concert of the 26th International Music Festival in the UNESCO-listed Cesky Krumlov, south Bohemia, on Friday, the organisers told reporters on Wednesday.
The famous singers will be accompanied by the Prague Philharmonia orchestra conducted by Leos Svarovsky on an open-air stage in the Brewery Garden.
Gheorghiu will perform at the festival for the first time, while Vargas will return to Cesky Krumlov after six years.
“The programme will offer the best of opera,” Svarovsky said.
It incudes arias from the operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod, Giacomo Puccini, Francesco Cilea, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Bizet and Antonin Dvorak.
The music festival held at various venues in the town runs through August 5.
Vargas and Gheorghiu, who both sing in the Vienna State Opera at present, attended the press conference in Prague on Wednesday. They were praising one another.
Gheorghiu said they are not only colleagues on the stage but also good friends.
Angela ranks among the best sopranos in history and her voice can provoke deep emotions, Vargas said.
Vargas, 56, sang at a gala concert within the festival in Cesky Krumlov in 2011.
He called Krumlov a magic town as far as its architecture is concerned.
Gheorghiu, 51, who has never been to Krumlov before, said she was looking forward to the open-air concert in the summer atmosphere of this incredibly beautiful town.
