The first Varna music forum goes back to 1926. The idea of the people who founded it has not been lost over time – that was how the Varna Summer Music Festival was born, bringing together on stage the music elite from Bulgaria and abroad. For some years the concerts have been structured in different modules. Here is more from the festival’s artistic secretary Plamena Tsoneva:

“We streamlined this edition of the festival – both in terms of time schedule and content. Varna Summer is a festival featuring a multitude of genres and a great many events. The first principal module is for symphony, chamber music, opera and ballet. It is the module that opens the festival on 20 June. By a tradition we kick off with a concert by the Varna Philharmonic. For the first time we are having Yordan Kamdzhalov as guest conductor. Young violinist Simeon Simeonov will be making his debut as soloist on our stage. The spotlight in their programme will be on Bulgarian music - Bulgarian Rhapsody Vardar by Pancho Vladigerov is the emblem of Varna Summer. We have added one more work by the same composer - Concerto for violin and orchestra No.1."

Musicians from Rousse are very prominent in the festival prorgamme. Svetlin Roussev, a violinist of world renown will be playing with the Rousse Philharmonic with conductor Nayden Todorov. The audience will be able to attend the premiere of a co-production of the Rousse Opera House and the Puppet theatre in Varna. Together they are staging “Sleeping Beauty”, a ballet drama, based on the ballet by Tchaikovsky. The organizers have included a work by a contemporary composer – Roland Baumgartner’s chamber opera “The Marilyn Monroe Trial”.

The Balkan Youth Symphony Orchestra is taking part in the Varna Summer festival for the third consecutive year. It will present works rehearsed with young conductor Lyubomir Deven Jr. at a summer camp near Varna. The idea came from the Pioneer Philharmonic, which is part of the Balkan Youth Symphony Orchestra.

The Varna Summer Music Lab is the module that has definitely been stirring the imagination. It is an experimental programme targeted specifically at the people of Varna. “There are a great many musicians from the city who have made it to the world stages. We give them an opportunity to come back and perform here, in Bulgaria. They apply with projects, tailored to our festival,” says Plamena Tsoneva and goes on with information about the other modules:

“The International Summer Academy has two master classes, conducted by Mincho Minchev and Anna Tomowa-Sintow. After the classes, the participants will give concerts that are no less spectacular than the concerts by the festival stars. Another event is the Violins of Prof. Mincho Minchev competition. As every year, it is in two rounds and two age groups. The two renowned musicians will also have meetings with the public which we have called “In the spotlight”.

The “Crossover Project” aims to bring the festival closer to the public. Musicians like Yildiz Ibrahimova, Theodosii Spassov and Hristo Yotsov are the surprise guests the festival organizers have selected for this module.

The “Renaissance and Baroque Art” concerts are very popular. “We have guests coming from Spain and Hungary and the concert by Les Ambassadeurs is the result of our cooperation with the Baroque Art Festival in Sofia,” Plamena Tsoneva adds.

Opera and ballet fans will not be disappointed. The Varna Summer International Music Festival has three premieres by the Varna Opera House lined up, the last one of them being Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti on 20 August which will closes the 2015 edition of the festival.

English version: Milena Daynova