"Wonderful day, magic day, sun and love…,” is an excerpt from a poem by Anton Delvig, Russian poet, a contemporary and friend of Pushkin. Two of the most famous Bulgarian opera singers - Mariana Tsvetkova and Tsvetana Bandalovska, together with Prof. Yovcho Krushev are to perform duet songs based on verses by the poet.

The concert will take place on Palm Sunday, at noon in the Sofia Opera. The audience will also hear vocal works by Sergei Rahmaninov, prof. Krushev says.

“The composer has created more than 80 such works and we selected a few. There will also be songs performed for the first time in front of Bulgarian audience. They are from his opus 86. The concert was the idea of ​​two wonderful singers who are known not only as soloists at the Sofia Opera, but also worldwide. They also wanted to include some of my works,” prof. Krushev adds.

More from Mariana Tsvetkova:

“We are glad that Yovcho Krushev responded to our invitation,” Mariana Tsvetkova says. “First, because he is a great pianist, a virtuoso, but not only in terms of technique and brilliance in performance. What he achieves is a special feeling for music especially with regard to the music of Rachmaninoff, which corresponds to my understanding. Together with Tsvetana we share huge admiration for his amazing qualities of a musician. There is nothing better than singers and pianist working in consensus. We are an ensemble; we are one and cannot wait to show the program. He is a very talented composer. I can not wait to present songs written by him, as well as duets based on poems by Delvig and Yavorov. Me and Tsvetana has long been partners in vocal concerts and we joke that she presents the more delicate side of works, while I present the more turbulent and dramatic parts. It is not very common to achieve such unity on stage.”

I need to clarify that I also have Russian blood and I have long dreamt of organising this concert, Tsvetana Bandalovska says and adds.

“Years ago, a great Bulgarian singer told me about professor Yovcho Krushev. At that time I used to sing a lot of Russian music, and she was convinced that I should prepare a concert together with him. 15 years passed. RecentlyMariana met him and later told me she was impressed by both the musician and composer Yovcho Krushev. He offered to have a concert and naturally the first thing that came as an idea, was the music of Rachmaninoff. We thought it would be nice to include works by Yovcho Krushev. We need to perform the works of contemporary Bulgarian composers. I want to clarify that the last opus by Rachmaninoff is somewhat metaphysical, transcendental and very difficult to perform. I am especially excited about the Krysolov – a very interesting song that not every pianist can perform. It was a big task and I knew only Yovcho could do it. Chamber Music is important to me, as it gives me that look at the detail which is not so pronounced in opera.” In smaller forms of music you need to recreate a whole world for a shorter time. This requires an enormous effort - spiritual, artistic and even physical.

This is the first joint concert of the three musicians, so we cannot offer you their joint performances. That is why you will hear a performance by Yovcho Krushev.

English: Alexander Markov