On October 31, at the traditional Thursday concert of the Sofia Philharmonic, two works will be performed, which have become significant for their authors and were created with only five years difference. Leonard Bernstein wrote his First Symphony in 1942, when he was just 24 years old. It premiered in January 1944 under the composer's conductor's baton at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh. In New York it was performed in March the same year in Carnegie Hall. Then it won the New York Music Critics' Circle Award for the best American work of 1944. To this day, the work is considered one of the greatest works of the musician. The symphony is a work created on the biblical story of the prophet Jeremiah. It has three parts: Prophecy, Profanation, and Lamentation, where voice (mezzo-soprano) is included. In the first two performances lead singer is Jennie Tourel.

In Bulgaria Hall singer will be Violeta Radomirska, who has an active international career in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Conductor is Oliver Weder – musician with impressive creative biography, currently music director and chief conductor of the Thüringer Symphoniker Saalfeld-Rudolstadt – one of the oldest German orchestras.

In the first part, Oliver Weder will conduct Piano Concerto No 3 by Pancho Vladigerov. The Bulgarian composer, whose 120th birthday is celebrated in 2019, dedicated his work to a remarkable event – the opening of the Bulgaria Hall on October 9, 1937. The composer who was then 38 years old took part as a soloist in the premiere. On October 31, 2019, the work will be performed by Maria-Desislava Stoycheva – a student at NBU, in the class of Professor Lyudmil Angelov. This year she won the first prize at the International Piano and Violin Competition "Pancho Vladigerov" in Shumen, as well as the special award for the best performance of works by the patron of the competition. Maria-Desislava Stoycheva has dozens of awards from international forums and she has twice received scholarship for Musica Mundi (Belgium) – a chamber music course where she worked with renowned pianists and educators. She has been a participant in a concert of young talents as part of the fifth edition of the Piano Extravaganza Festival in Sofia. She is a winner of the BNR's Allegro Vivace Award for young musician of the year 2015.

“The concert is part of the commitments I received thanks to the Pancho Vladigerov Foundation. This is an exceptional opportunity given to the winner of the first prize of the contest of the same name. I think that all of Vladigerov's piano concerts have their charm, but this is undoubtedly one of the most performed and loved by the audience. It was also included in the program of the Pancho Vladigerov Competition this year. It is an interesting coincidence that my first solo performance in the Bulgaria Hall was also of a work by this great Bulgarian composer. I am happy that my debut with the Sofia Philharmonic is his concert. I also want to say that the opportunity to work with a pianist, who is very familiar with Vladigerov's creative work, is invaluable. Prof. Angelov has recorded Vladigerov's concerts and performed them with various orchestras and conductors. This is wonderful Bulgarian music and I hope it will be interesting for the audience.”

English: Alexander Markov