A young Bulgarian bass singer has been recently having spectacular success at the biggest opera stages throughout the world. Critics compare him to Samuel Ramey and other opera singers, but they always stress on the slight Slavonic edge to his voice. Orlin Anasatssov is only 26 years old but the list of roles he has sung is amazing: Ramphis in Aida, Filippo II in Don Carlos, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, the bass parts in Somnambula and Norma, La Boheme, Rigoletto, Puritani, Ernani, Macbeth, Attila, Simoe Boccanegra, Faust, etc. - all of them difficult roles, sung by only a few opera singers. He has participated at Covent Garden in London, the Paris Grand Opera, La Scala in Milan, Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Arena di Verona, Teatro Real in Madrid, Rome, Karlsruhe, Toulouse, Amsterdam, Washington, Trieste, Palma de Mallorca, Puerto Rico, Lima in Peru, Palermo … It is impossible to mention all opera theatres and towns which he has visited as guest singer. Among the conductors he has worked with are the names of Sir Colin Davis, Georges Pretre, Mark Elder, Daniel Oren, Riccardo Chailly. Along with opera singing, Orlin Anastassov is also attracted to singing Orthodox chants and just as the great singer Boris Christoff, he also indulges in studying church music. This programme is a result of this. The booklet of the CD includes the texts to the chants in three languages: Church-Slavonic, Bulgarian, and English.Neofit, Metropolitan of Rousse writes in the CD booklet: "Orlin is a new and precious pearl of Bulgarian opera art, a cause of praise for the town of Rousse and Bulgaria. With admiration and indebtedness he dedicates his present work to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the unforgettable Boris Christoff. And with his youthful zeal for the boundless heights of art he recalls to us the flight of the eagle…".
 
 
Recorded in the “Sveti Sedmochislenitsi” Church, Sofia, 26-28 March 2004