The 30^th edition of the Apollonia Festival of Arts forum is unveiled on August 28 in the Black Sea port town of Sozopol. Traditionally the forum gathers renowned Bulgarian intellectuals, artists, singers, actors, but also world famous persons from different spheres of culture.

Music takes a special place in this year’s edition of the fest. The audience will have the chance to enjoy some of the best Bulgarian musicians from the classical, pop and jazz genre. That is why the event will be unveiled with a concert, named The Bulgarian Soul in Music.

Fans of Mincho Minchev will have the chance to hear a chamber concert on August 31, together with Evgeni Bozhanov.

Conductor of Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble Plamen Djurov tells us more on the program of the concert, which will open the event on August 28:

“30 years of Apollonia in such a rapidly changing time period is a sort of an exploit for an artist,” Plamen Djurov told Radio Bulgaria. “This is due to the solidarity of all artists, involved in the process. I personally do appreciate the fact that there is such a large-scale and diverse cultural event within the tourist season. Sozopol is now full of Bulgarian and foreign guests, showing an interest in the forum’s program. We will unveil it with a concert, named The Bulgarian Soul in Music. The idea for the name came from its director Margarita Dimitrova. We show a lot from the diversity of our music there. The presence of the big Marin Goleminov and his emblematic pieces is important for this 30^th edition. We present those in an adapted for Sofia Soloists ensemble version. Songs of another Bulgarian author, Krasimir Kyurkchiiski will be performed by the Cosmic Voices folk choir. Recently popular composer Georgi Andreev will present three of his works. Teodosyi Spasov also presents new compositions. The soloists over that first night are interesting too. Irena Petkova, a soloist of Slovenia’s opera is a special guest at the festival. Violinist Mincho Minchev will perform various pieces too – works of composers Mikhail Pekov and Georgi Zlatev Cherkin will impress the audience. To cut it short, each guest will get an impression of the richness of our music within several works, performed on August 28…”

A list of new projects will be presented at this edition and several jubilees will be marked.

On 2 September fans of classical music will hear sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy and others, thanks to Vesko Eshkenazi /violin/ and Lyudmil Angelov /piano/. The latter will have a concert of his own a few days later, on 5 September.

Viktor Chuchkov /piano/, Stefan Hadjiev /cello/ and many other talented musicians will play at the 30^th edition of the Apollonia Festival of Arts. The opera genre will mark the 100^th birth anniversary of Boris Hristov. Kiril Manolov will sing in his honor – he is this year’s winner at the contest, named after the great basso. A concert with the participation of Nikola Karnolski, Yulian Konstantinov and Marian Yovanovski from Macedonia will sing, honoring the memory of another opera legend – Nikola Gyuzelev.

Pop music has its spot preserved, just like any other year, Vladimir Ampov – Grafa and Mihaela Fileva are some of the artists, who will entertain fans of pop culture in Sozopol. Of course, what will Apollonia be without jazz? The Big band of the BNR with Antoni Donchev as a conductor will take care of this, along with pianist Zhivko Petrsov’s trio – JP3 and also Kamelia Todorova and Vasil Petrov.

First lady of Bulgarian pop song Lili Ivanova also wants to join the festival. Three other formations will celebrate their anniversaries along with Apollonia: BTR /20 years/; Acoustic Version /30 years/ and the Pirin Ensemble – 60 years.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev