On Radio Bulgaria we bring you works from various epochs in the rendition of Bulgarian musicians. In this way we revisit the most successful appearances of Bulgarian instrumentalists, singers and composers across the world.
Last November 14-year old Emil Kolev released his debut album. Born in Zwickau, Germany, he is of Bulgarian descent. Over the last years he has been active concretizing, recording and taking part in festivals and competitions. In February 2012 he will play Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic. In the meantime he will present part of the works in the album to Bulgarian audiences. Listen next to Humoresque by Dvorak in the rendition of Emil Kolev. The accompaniment is by pianist Milena Chernyavska.
At the end of June mezzo soprano Vesselina Katsarova sang to its Bulgarian admirers. The Kamersingerin of the Vienna State Opera and of the Opera House in Munich has a spectacular career in world music with more than 50 opera parts. She has starred in Salzburg, Vienna, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Chicago, New York and elsewhere. She has also held a few master classes.
“I recently had another master class”, she says. “I myself have followed the example of leading singers. I hope that in 2012 I will be able to rely on my voice and I wish the best of health to my family.”
Denitsa Laffchieva is one of Bulgaria’s foremost young instrumentalists. The clarinetist has performed with leading orchestras and conductors in Europe, America and Japan, and has held a few international master classes. She currently lives in London. Last year she gave a series of chamber concerts. Listen to her with Orchestra Catalonia de Opera Italiana – Torino, conductor Antonello Gotta with Mozart, Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, a fragment from its first movement.
The oratorio A Melancholy Beauty by Georgi Andreev is dedicated to a remarkable moment in Bulgarian history – the saving of thousands of Bulgarian Jews. The premiere of the work was held in June 2011 at the Songs of Life Festival in the United States. The impressive vocal-instrumental work was presented in Washington DC, Boston and New York by prestigious orchestras. The score includes a few Bulgarian folk instruments as well as a chamber ladies’ choir. The performers come from the Filip Kutev Ensemble where Georgi Andreev is chief conductor. The music of the oratorio is based on intonations and melodies borrowed from Jewish songs, as well as on themes from Bulgarian folk music.
Anguel Manolov Academic Choir has had a successful tour of France. Its two-hour programme consisting of 32 works, received standing ovations in a few French cities – Paris, Nice, Marseille, Lyon, Tours etc. “Everybody thought we were professionals. No one could guess that out choir is an amateur one. And we got great reviews”, conductor Darena Popova said. At the end of last year Anguel Manolov Academic Choir became part of the Austrian Music Caravan, an international project of the Vienna Conservatory supported by the Austrian Government. Its goal is the exchange of repertoire between musicians from Danube and Black Sea countries. The Bulgarian choir will join the traveling concert program in June this year.
Finally we bring you a performance of Evgeni Bozhanov, one of Bulgaria’s most successful young musicians last year. He has emerged as a pianist displaying spontaneity, style, character and brilliance all at once. In 2011 he guest-performed in Vienna, Berlin, Tokyo, Stockholm and other cities of the world. Bozhanov also joined the Sofia Music Weeks Festival. Listen to his rendition of Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 by Chopin with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Georgi Dimitrov.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
