When a crush turns into conscious love and starts giving meaning to the searches of an artist, you can say that this is a road of happiness. Flute player Dimitar Marinkev follows the road of his inspiration – Baroque music. He showed interest towards it as a student. When he was a student in the Academy of Music a dream opportunity emerged. He took part in a master class with Dutch lecturer Van Rhoon, before going to study at the Conservatory in Enschede in the Netherlands.

“At that moment I felt at ease. I was 23 years old when I began to absorb the intricacies of this art. I spent seven years in the Netherlands studying various music instruments - block flute, Baroque flute, and harpsichord. I was also singing in order to understand and feel the link between lyrics and music. The art of speech and playing music are inextricably linked. In this music rhythmic and harmonic shapes are directly related, like human speech," Dimitar Marinkev says.

The fact that Mr. Marinkev is deeply immersed in this type of music can be felt during his concerts. His flute carries the listener to other worlds and dimensions.

"My great love is baroque transverse flute or the so called traverso,” Dimitar Marinkev says. This is my favorite instrument and I prefer to use it when I play old music. For three years I have been living and working in Germany. I am a member of several international German formations and perform at a number of concerts. Much of my experience as a chamber musician is based on my work with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra. We have been having concerts in Europe for 15 years. I have performed as a soloist more than 700 times. Repetition increases attention towards details, which makes the performance better."

Dimitar Marinkev’s love towards old music is the basis of the concerts that he organized, together with his classmate from the Conservatory in Amsterdam, Finnish Aapo Häkkinen (harpischord). Their idea to present to the Bulgarian audience a small Baroque Festival, received the support of the Finnish Embassy in Bulgaria. The year was 2005 and the concerts took place in the Catholic cathedral "St. Joseph” in Sofia with the participation of Finnish musicians. With the second edition of the festival it became a popular event. Guests to the festival were violinist Ricardo Minazi, Ludovico Minazi - baroque cello, soprano Alena Dancheva and others. Within the framework of the event master classes also take place.

Currently the festival “Art of the Baroque" is a traditional event in the cultural life of Sofia. Listen to a performance by Dimitar Marinkev and Aapo Hakkinen - Part II from Sonata for flute and basso continuo № 4 in G Major by Pietro Antonio Locatelli.

Talent and lots of work are undoubtedly required in order for a musician to bring delight to audiences with virtuoso performance. "Surely hard work is the major thing,” says Dimitar and adds:

"It's not just about learning to perform the most difficult piece and express emotional states. We are also actors on stage. Nobody but musicians who play the same instrument knows whether a work is difficult to perform or not. What is important is to make the listener excited,” the musician concludes.

The audio file contains the following works:

.Trio for Flute, Oboe and Basso Continuo by Telemann

.Part II of Trio for flute, oboe and basso continuo in G major - Baldassare Galuppi

.Part II from Sonata for flute and basso continuo № 4 in G Major by Pietro Antonio Locatelli

.Part III from Sonata for flute, oboe and continuo in C minor by Kleinknecht