Britain's capital London gathered for the fourth time talented Bulgarians from various artistic fields such as cinema, theater, painting, photography and music. Some of the people presented at the London Festival of Bulgarian Culture have been living and working in England for years. Others live in Bulgaria and in other countries. The founder and artistic director of that forum Ivo Stankov wanted to show the English audience the best achievements of the Bulgarian artists.

This year's edition of London Festival of Bulgarian Culture includes nearly 15 events. The official opening is to be held on October 25 and part of the program has been already presented in Sofia and Plovdiv, artistic director Ivo Stankov told Radio Bulgaria and added:

“Violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy will participate at the first concert together with Georgi Andreev. They present a Bulgarian music program. Georgi wrote several pieces and later he presented them in Bulgaria together with Mr Kennedy. This time they will play with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Traditionally, a Bulgarian choir takes part at theLondon Festival of Bulgarian Culture. This year's programme is quite interesting and the cultural events are to be held at the large concert hall of Barbican Centre. We are to present a series of chamber concerts in Conway Hall. This year we have invited some of Bulgaria's most celebrated musicians. Renowned pianist Ludmil Angelov will participate at the festival for the first time. Dimitar Burov and his sister Yana Burova who have been living in London for many years will also take part at that festival. Michael Geller, first violin of Concertgebouw andcellist Gerard Le Feuvre are among this year's guest musicians of the London Festival of Bulgarian Culture. I am to participate together with talented Bulgarian violinist Pavel Minev who has been living in Russia's capital Moscow for years and is not that popular in Bulgaria. I made several music projects with Pavel and was quite impressed with him. On November 13 we will play together with cellist Guy Johnson who won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2000. We will also play together with pianist Ashley Wass who is a laureate of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition. Violinist Alexander Zemtsov who held several concerts in Bulgaria will also join the cultural events in London. Our goal is to gather many popular musicians together on one stage for the first time.”

Bulgarian violinists were concertmasters of nearly 50 of the most prestigious world orchestras. Svetlin Roussev is one of them. He is the first violinist of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Mr. Ivo Stankov reminds. The cultural program includes pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Johannes Brahms, Giovanni Pergolesi, etc.

The London Festival of Bulgarian Culture will be closed on November 30 with the performance of brilliant musicians once again. The festival also includes events dedicated to various arts. Bulgarian painter, curator and gallerist Yavor Lubomirov is to hold several exhibitions in his London gallery. A cinema night will be held on November 4 where the audience will have the change to meet some of the actors starring in Pod Prikritie TV series. The Bulgarian Cultural Institute in London is a co-organizer and partner of that cultural event. It presents a series of exhibitions and theatre performances such as Mrs Natural Disaster with Stoyanka Mutafova, The Road to Aphrodite monodrama with Boika Velkova, etc.

English version: KostadinAtanasov

Audio file features the following pieces:

1 Rhodopaby Dobdrinka Tabakova, violin-Yana Burova, grand piano-Fiammetta Tarli

2 Waltz from Four Pieces for Violin and Piano by Pancho Vladigerov to the rendition of Svetlin Roussev and Elena Rozanova

3 Nebesni Otrazhenia by Martin Georgiev to the rendition of the BNR Symphonic Orchestra, conductor Martin Georgiev