Orchestra

The orchestra of the Stara Zagora during the first years of its existence from 1925 was led by Alexander Georgiev, as part of the Kaval Music Society. Initially, the composition was filled by the military brass band and amateurs - teachers, students, engineers, doctors, lawyers.

After 1946, when the opera house was established as a state institution, the ensemble was gradually filled by professionally educated musicians who had graduated from the newly established secondary music schools, the Music Academy. This allowed the repertoire to be quickly enriched with productions that required greater artistic potential: Rusalka by Dragomirski (1946), Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti (1949), Pagliacci by Leoncavallo (1949), Abduction from the Shed by Mozart (1950), etc.

Conductors in the first years were Boris Fetvedjiev, Simeon Fetvedjiev, Dimitar Hristov, Yosko Yosifov. Romeo Raichev, director and chief conductor of the Stara Zagora Opera in 1942-1954, played a particularly large role in strengthening the orchestra, and after him Anastas Anastasov, Ilia Iliev and Ruslan Raichev.
With Dimitar Dimitrov (1959), the orchestra was established as an ensemble capable of responding to a variety of artistic tasks, including cantata-oratorio and symphonic repertoire, as well as new opera and ballet titles by Bulgarian composers.

Over the years, the orchestra's main contribution to its development has been made by Veselin Nenov, Mikhail Popov, Ivan Dimov, Nedyalko Nedyalkov, Bozhidar Bonev, Krasimir Kashev, Stefan Linev, Dian Chobanov, Luciano di Martino, Ivaylo Krinchev, Vladimir Boshnakov and Dimitar Kossev.