The Boris Christoff Festival of Arts is being held in the house-museum of the great Bulgarian singer. It will continue until the end of June and among upcoming events is an evening dedicated to Ruslan Raychev - one of the most remarkable Bulgarian conductors with a long and successful career in Western Europe. His son Peter Raychev will present his film "The Cosmopolitan Ruslan Raychev" on June 20.

Petar Raychev graduated from film directing in Germany but decided to fulfil his childhood dream and "become a singer like his grandfather" - tenor Peter Raychev, who conquered European stages in the period between the two world wars. His grandson Peter Raychev had been working in Germany for 10 years in choirs and as a soloist. He stopped for a year and received an offer to work as a music impresario. He spent more than 20 years in Germany. Today he is impresario in Bulgaria as he returned to his homeland after 2006, when his father passed away.

"At one point I started to clean up his things - photos, newspapers, music material,” he says. “I wanted to preserve all this and to restore damaged photos. My wife started telling me that I needed to do something with the archive. A friend of ours who wanted to shoot a film about my father when he was still alive also urged me to do something. He was not like most of his colleagues and did not want to be a celebrity. He was a true artist, living with his work. Some time ago a film was made about him but I will not comment on it. It is probably a mistake that I did not shoot some conversations with him and did not record his memories. He was somebody who knew and remembered the great names of the world opera. People, events, theatres ... He used to tell us very often about places and people but I have very little of this recorded. I made a film, which I think is only intended for a narrow circle of people. The premiere took place about six years ago in the Boris Christoff museum house. It is a bit hard for me to call this a film. It is the family memory about my father.”

Mr. Peter Raychev also told us that the film had undergone some changes and new material was included in it.

"He is one of the first Bulgarian conductors who had a career in Western Europe. Indeed, many people used to tour various countries together with the Sofia Opera, but he had personal invitations to various opera houses. Back in the 60s he toured France, Germany, and Switzerland. In the early 80s he spent time in the Vienna Staatsoper, where for a season or two he led the entire Italian repertoire. In La Scala he conducted a new production of "Khovanshchina” by Mussorgsky. In Bulgaria he later received the distinction of "people's artist". He used to joke this was downgrading as he had already become an „international artist." There was an interesting situation when he had to conduct "Boris Godunov" in Paris with director Joseph Losey. Ruggiero Raimondi had the role of Boris and the other singers were also world-famous. Seiji Ozawa was supposed to be the conductor but he fell ill and they called my father. This coincided with the preparation of the jubilee celebration of Nicolai Ghiaurov in Sofia when Jose Carreras, Mirella Freni, Piero Cappuccilli came for the concert. Then the opera in Paris provided him with a private jet, so he was able to rehearse in both places. My father had a great sense of humour, and the atmosphere at home was very nice. I'm sorry that I barely remember my grandfather. There were some legendary figures in his inner circle of friends like Stefan Zweig, Stanislavsky, Mayakovsky, and Gorky. He lived in Italy and Germany and my father remembered that their family was visited by Toscanini, Prokofiev, Chaliapin, Umberto Giordano. This was the atmosphere that Ruslan Raychev grew in. It is no accident that the event is organised in the house of Boris Christoff. They were very close friends. In the early 40s my father was an assistant to the great conductor Karl Böhm in the Vienna State Opera in Vienna. One day Boris Christoff arrived and told my father he wanted to study singing. My father managed to convince him that Italy was the right country where he should study singing. This amazing singer was always grateful for his advice."

Peter Raychev also told us about his visit to the Boris Christoff Academy in Rome, where he went in order to receive guidance from the big basso. "You was very kind to me and we talked about the past and about my father. I feel blessed for the contacts I have with such unique musicians."

English: Alexander Markov

Audio contains the following performances:

1.  Aria of Abigail from Nabucco by G. Verdi, perf. by Gena Dimitrova with the SO of the BNR, conductor Ruslan Raychev

2.  Don Juan's Serenade by Tchaikovski, performed by Nikola Gyuzelev, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ruslan Raychev

3.  Aria of Manon from Manon Lescaut by Puccini, perf. Anna Tomova-Sintova with Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ruslan Raychev