“I can say that this was a very good concert, and judging from the response of the audience, I think they liked it too”, violinist Prof. Dimo Dimov said referring to the concert of his quartet on 10 February. It was held on the occasion of his 75th birthday at Bulgaria Hall. For the event, Dimo Dimov appeared on stage with Emil Boshev (violin), Ognyan Konstantinov (viola) and Hristo Tanev (cello). The concert’s special guests included Ludmil Angelov (piano) and Valentin Getrov (viola). The program featured String Quartet К 516 by Mozart and Piano Quintet Opus 34 by Brahms.

Dimo Dimov is a violinist with a prominent career in chamber music. He graduated the National Music Academy in Sofia in 1961. While still a student he founded the Dimov Quartet in 1956. His bio is quite diverse. For the record, he served as MP in the 38th National Assembly of Bulgaria, as minister of culture in 1990 and 1991 and as Bulgaria’s ambassador to Denmark (2001-2005). From 1987 to 1989 he was rector of the Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy, and he still works there as professor of chamber music. His brand however, is the Dimov Quartet, Bulgaria’s best string quartet of all time. Originally, the musician founded the quartet with Alexander Tomov (violin), Dimitar Chilikov (viola) and Dimitar Kozev (cello).

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The Dimov Quartet

Here is more from him in an interview for Radio Bulgaria: “Things have changed over the years, but what matters to me is that the quartet still exists. This is a major achievement in itself. It is no challenge to start a quartet. The challenge is to keep it going with time. We have dozens of recordings. We have worked with the French production company Harmonia Mundi to record the quartets by Robert Schumann. We have played a great many chamber works by Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert and Bela Bartok. This is a huge discography. We have a cycle of piano quintets with the participation of some of the leading Bulgarian pianists – Anton Dikov, Zheni Zaharieva, Ivan Drenikov and Ludmil Angelov.”

In 1984, demonstrating a remarkable far-sightedness, Prof. Dimo Dimov initiated the Apollonia Festival of the Arts in the ancient Black Sea town of Sozopol. Later he set up a foundation with the same name. How does the stocktaking of this festival look today? A question to Dimo Dimov:

“I am not the one to judge: it is the audience that enjoys Apollonia. This year we will meet for its 29th edition. The formula that we went for long ago was to present all arts. It turned out very adequate. And it goes perfectly with the small stages in Sozopol. This is the best thing in the whole experience – finding the place and format for a festival to take place. From that point on, it has never been a problem to recruit the cream of Bulgarian musicians, actors and artists. In the recent years the festival has seen interest from foreign countries as well. Its prestige has grown and we are happy to see how popular the event has become.”

This year the Dimov Quartet plans concerts in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Gabrovo and Varna.

Translated by Daniela Konstantinova