Concert in Sofia marks 90th anniversary of opera singer Nicola Ghiuselev’s birth

A concert honouring the 90th anniversary of the birth of renowned Bulgarian opera singer and artist Nicola Ghiuselev will take place at the Sofia City Art Gallery, organisers said. The event, organised by the Nicola Ghiuselev Foundation, is scheduled for April 29 at 1800 local time. Performers will include soprano Radostina Nikolaeva and bass singers Biser Georgiev and Hristo Draganov, with Yolanta Smolyanova on piano.

Ghiuselev’s wife, Anna-Maria Ghiuseleva, will also present a newly released book, “Nicola Ghiuselev: The Knight of Opera”. To mark the occasion, she has donated a collection of his early portraits, drawings and sketches — previously kept by the family — to the gallery.

Celebrated worldwide for his operatic career, Ghiuselev was also a talented visual artist. From an early age, he combined his passion for music with a love of classical painting, revealing a rich and wide-ranging artistic personality.

As a student at the National Academy of Arts, he showed strong promise as a draughtsman and portrait painter. He was regarded, alongside Christo, as one of the most promising young talents of his generation, with both later achieving international recognition in different artistic fields.

The concert is part of a wider programme of events marking the 90th anniversary of Nicola Ghiuselev’s birth throughout 2026.

Editor: Miglena Ivanova