Works by Franz Liszt, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók are on the programme of the concert by the Sofia Philharmonic, with conductor Gábor Hollerung, on 20 October at Bulgaria Hall. The concert is dedicated to the Day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

It should be remembered that the previous day, 19 October, is Friendship Day between Bulgaria and Hungary. It is also the day on which the Bulgarian Orthodox Church honours St. Ivan of Rila. According to his hagiography, the saint’s relics were taken from Sofia in 1183 by King Béla III of Hungary who led a military campaign against Byzantine which ruled over Bulgaria at that time. St. Ivan of Rila’s relics were laid down in the cathedral of Esztergom, then capital of the Hungarian Empire. In 1187, the relics of the Bulgarian saint were returned to Sofia.

The day of Bulgarian-Hungarian friendship was constituted in 2016, but the ties between the two nations go back much further. In 1849 a large group of Hungarian emigrants settled in the Bulgarian town of Shumen. Their leader was the legendary Lajos Kossuth. Today, the house the national hero of Hungary lived in has been turned into a museum in his name, but also a museum of the Hungarian national movement of 1848.

The composers whose works have been selected for the concert programme on 20 October are among the most emblematic names in Hungarian culture. Besides composers, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók were also untiring researchers into the folklore of different nations, including the folklore of Bulgaria.

Soloist of Franz Liszt’s “Fantasy for piano and orchestra” is Dora Deliyska, a graduate of the prestigious University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Dora Deliyska has a remarkable career in music, and she is a Bösendorfer artist. The newest model of Bösendorfer piano will be brought in especially for her performance at the concert in Bulgaria Hall.

English version: Milena Daynova