This Friday will officially open the year of Plovdiv as the European Capital of Culture for 2019. While the city is preparing to meet the expected guests and there are disputes about whether the infrastructure of Plovdiv has the capacity to take up so many events, a suitable question is what the program of the opening weekend offers, reports Dnevnik

The biggest event will be the show "We Are All Colors" for which a 30-meter-high stage tower is built in the space between the boulevards "Tzar Boris III Obedinitel" and "Maria Louisa". The performance is on January 12 at 19.00 and is expected to be seen by several tens of thousands.

January 11, Friday

From 18.00 at "SKLAD" on 16 "Ekzarh Yosif" Street is the opening of "Smoke. Stories of Tobacco". The exhibition is specially prepared for the opening of "Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture" and is part of one of the key projects in the program - Tobacco City. It presents archive materials, photographs, videos, films, literature and works by well-known Bulgarian authors who study the history of Plovdiv through the connection of the city with the tobacco industry. The exhibition can be seen until March 30.

A retrospective exhibition of the artist Kolyo Karamfilov, "Unspeakable about Kolyo K.", opened on 7 January and is part of the Plovdiv 2019 program, can be seen at the City Art Gallery on 15, Alexander I Battenberg Str.

On Friday night, the Kapana music program begins. At 20.00 on stage "Kadroto" at 14 "Zagreb" Street will take "Oktet Plovdiv" and at 21.00 will be the concert of Brazz ViliDJ.

January 12, Saturday

At 16.30 on "Stefan Stambolov" square will be opened the exhibition "Art of freedom - From the Berlin Wall to the street art". The exposition consists of the only traveling collection of original fragments of the Berlin Wall. It features precursors of Berlin street art from the 1980s, as well as modern artists. The collection was created by the famous French curator Sylvester Verze.

At 17.00, at the "Stefan Stambolov" square on the façade of the Municipality of Plovdiv will be realized a 3D mapping projection by Phormatik Visual Lab.

From 21.00 hrs next the singing fountains at the Tsar-Simeon's Garden "Jar Theater", Fireter will present a fiery spectacle with puppets, fire effects, stilts and various theatrical attractions.

From 12.00 on the stage of "Kadroto" on 14 "Zagreb" Street will be the music program of "Kapana". Participants includes Plovdiv music club "Zarava" (12.00 hrs), "Bulgari" project (13.00), Ramzey Hercules (17.00), James & Black (20.30) and Akaga group (21.30).

January 13, Sunday

Much of the Sunday program is devoted to children. In the City Art Gallery on "Kniaz Alexander I Battenberg" Str. 15 from 10:00 to 17:30 the children will be able to draw, inspired by the works of Kolyo Karamfilov. To the "Permanent exhibition of painting Encho Pironkov", located at 1 Vasil Kanchev Street, again from 10.00 to 17.30 the children will also be able to draw, but they will also be guided by an artist.

The children's program also offers the Ivan Vazov National Library at 17 Aleksentiy Valeshki Street from 11.15 to 13.00 in the Art Hall and the lobby. There will be presented curious facts about all European Capitals of Culture from 1985 until today. Dances characteristic of each country will also be shown. There will be a quiz dedicated to European capitals, and children will be awarded awards.

At the Center for Contemporary History at the Regional Museum of History at "Angel Bukoreshtliev" Str. 14 from 11:00 to 17:00 is the opening of the traveling exhibition "Evrika!" of "Muzeiko". The exhibition presents some of the most popular discoveries of the XIX and XX centuries and will be a guest at the Regional History Museum throughout the year 2019.

Among the events for adults on Sundays is the exhibition "The unlit courtyards" in the City Art Gallery - exhibition "Mexican Art" at 11, Artin Gidikov Street. Its opening is at 16.00. The exhibition is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Yordan Radichkov's birth and presents the writer's journeys in Siberia in the 60s of the last century.

From 19.00 in the Boris Hristov House of Culture will be the premiere of the "Maria Buenos Aires" State Opera in Plovdiv. The surrealist opera by Astor Piazzolla, which blends tango, poetry and classical music, tells of Maria, who falls into the underworld of Buenos Aires. Directed by Vesselka Kuncheva, the performance is with the special participation of singer Lucy Dyakovska.

The Kapana musical program on Sunday is devoted to ethno and jazz music. It includes: the program of the Plovdiv Cultural Institute (12.00), Trio Soprano (13.00) and Theodosii Spassov Folk Quintet (16.00).

The full program of the opening weekend is on the website of "Foundation Plovdiv 2019"

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