The 21st International Salon of Arts opened at the National Palace of Culture at the beginning of May with a pre-programme. This year the festival offers an intriguing array of cultural events with a panoply of music - choir performances, jazz, classical music or crossover.

The Cosmic Voices choir with conductor Vanya Moneva had a concert on 10 May commemorating foremost choir conductor Vassil Arnaudov. The works they performed took listeners back to the golden years of Bulgarian choral singing with works by Philip Koutev, Petar Lyondev and others.

The Arts Salon opened officially last night with the concert Balkan Fever, a blend of different genres, as performed by kaval player Theodosii Spassov, guitarists Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic as well as musicians from the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mixed Choir with talented conductor Christian Jarvi.

The festival continues with a concert by Angel Zaberski Trio on May 14 in Hall No. 6 of the National Palace of Culture and a presentation of his second album Like Jazz. The music in this album was inspired by the age of romanticism with interpretations of works by Schuman, Tchaikovsky and others.

One more musical highlight is on 15 May, a concert with the participation of Theodosii Spassov (kaval), singer Donny, the Om band, Nilolay Ivanov (guitar, piano), Marina Velikova (soprano saxophone) Dragan Milev (percussion) and singer Koceto Kalki. The occasion - 20 years since the Everest concert which has gone down in the Guinness book of records. The musicians who took part in it 20 years ago will play the music from the Everest concert to the screening of documentaries about the expedition.

On 17 May, in Hall No. 1 of the National Palace of Culture, the funk formation Akaga is certain to give their fans a big surprise and play together with the string Quarto Quartet. The project bringing them together on stage is called Libido Project, combining funk, fusion, jazz and classical music with DJ Borche and his beat music.

That same night classical music lovers will be able to enjoy the music of the Ars Music chamber ensemble, which is marking its 30th anniversary. This year the world celebrates two big anniversaries - 260 years since the birth of Mozart and 160 years since the death of Schuman and the chamber orchestra has included works by them in their programme.

“Nights in white satin” - this the title of a concert by jazz diva Kamelia Todorova in Hall No. 1 on 18 May. In the company of Brazz Association Combo, the Sofia Philharmonic and the Svetoslav Obretenov philharmonic choir, she will take her fans down memory lane.

The fringe programmeof the 21st Salon of Arts in Sofia includes a Skiller master class, an event marking 65 years since the foundation of the Philip Koutev National Folklore Ensemble, the Apotheosis of Beauty symphony music concert with conductor Lyubka Biagioni, a piano recital by Ivan Yanukov, a concert by jazz singer Miroslava Katsarova and her project Cinema and a host of other performers.

We wind up with a performance by pianist Zhivko Petrov. He will be presenting his first classical solo album After 4for which he was awarded the Crystal Lyre grand prix of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers.

Audio contains the following pieces:

- Young boy sleeping by Nikolay Kaufman, performed by the Cosmic Voices choir;

- Chrysanthemums, performed by Angel Zabersi Jr;

- Words fly away, performed by Kamelia Todorova;

- Prosperity.

English version: Milena Daynova