On July 11, 2026, the beautiful music of French composer Camille Saint-Saëns – his “Samson and Delilah” grand opera in three acts and four scenes – will be performed on Tsarevets Fortress Open Stage by Burgas State Opera.
Viewers will experience the drama of Samson the Jew, gifted with divine power, and Delilah – the beautiful Philistine woman who uses her feminine charm to tempt, deceive, betray and destroy him.
“Samson and Delilah” is Saint-Saëns’ third opera. In search of a plot, he selected the famous biblical legend of Samson, whose superhuman strength was hidden in his hair. Libretto is by Ferdinand Lemaire (1832–1879). The composer initially proposed the title to Paris Opéra, but it was rejected. A conversation followed with Franz Liszt, who at that time was the conductor of Weimar Opera, and the premiere of “Samson and Delilah” was on December 2, 1877 in Weimar under the baton of Liszt himself.
This opera is rarely performed, due to the exceptional orchestral difficulty, polyphonic sound of the choir, as well as arias and duets, which are on the pinnacle of opera art. Burgas State Opera is one of the few in our country that maintains this work in its repertoire.
The original scenography, relying on a minimalist style but lavish costumes, work of Katalin Ionescu-Arbore (Romania), the profound directing techniques of Prof. Dr. Alexander Tekeliev, the skilful conducting of Ivan Kozhuharov, the first-class artistic cast and the original thematically selected multimedia environment, promise that Tsarevets Hill show will be a memorable performance.
The visual effects are also impressive, which fit perfectly into the overall concept of this large-scale stage project.
The opera is performed in French with subtitles in Bulgarian.

SAMSON ET DALILA
Grand Opera by Camille Saint-Saëns
Conductor – Ivan Kozhuharov
Stage Director – Alexander Tekeliev
Scenography and costumes – Katalin Ionescu-Arbore
Choir Conductor – Alexander Chepanov
Choreography – Galina Kalcheva
Soloists:
Samson – Daniel Damyanov
Dalila – Daniela Dyakova
High Priest of Dagon – Aleksander Krunev
Abimelech – Delyan Slavoff
Old Hebrew – Diman Panchev
Philistine Messenger – Georgi Bozveliev
First Philistine – Milen Dinolov
Second Philistine – Ivan Grozev