For the 14th time this year, Sofia will play host to the cultural cocktail called European Music Festival. For all lovers of classical music the organizers have prepared 20 events that will be held within the space of three months - from March 12 to June 12. What’s new this year at the European Music Festival 2014 - a round table discussion dedicated to improving the cultural infrastructure of the city as the key issue raised there will be the need for a new concert hall. The roundtable will be held on May 28.
Collaboration is one of the keywords typical of the festival. Its patron is the mayor of Sofia, Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova asSofia municipality has been supporting the event for years. As a result of its cooperation with the March Music Days festival, we will be able to see first in Ruse, and then in Sofia the messa "The armed man" by the English composer Karl Jenkins. This will be the first performance of the work in Bulgaria.
The theme of cooperation will continue with support of the Spanish Embassy of the concert program "European Music Festival" of the famous Spanish quartet Casals. The group is touring the world stages and comes to Bulgaria for the first time. Thanks to the Polish Institute, we will see an Easter concert featuring two Polish artists – trumpet player Maciej Fortuna and pipe organ player Alicia Fotuna. And on May 21 with the support of the Israeli embassy we will hear the concert themed “The Unknown Telemann stranger”. The festival culminates in a concert with European folklore of the island of Sardinia, featuring singer Maria Giovanna, thanks to the Italian Cultural Institute in Bulgaria.
Another successful line the festival follows each year is to offer its stage to young performers. On April 16, the traditional concert of students from the National School of Music will take place where Kaliya Kalcheva, Georgi Lekov, Kristina Georgieva and Georgi Vassilev will make their debut on the stage of the Bulgaria hall accompanied by the orchestra of Classic FM. And on May 20, students from the National Academy of Music will present a chamber concert.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for a young musician to stand out, so it's nice when prominent names are reaching out to their younger colleagues. This will happen at the very opening of the festival in the Bulgaria concert hall where prominent violinist Vasko Panteleev - Eschkenazy will present to the audience talented young violinist Slava Atanasova, a student at the National Music School in Sofia. She was last year's winner of the Cantus Firmus award from the Young Virtuosos competition. In 2013, Slava won a wonderful violin at the contest organized by Vesko Panteleev Eschkenazy, along with luthier Ritz Iwata. The violinist says he proudly tells his colleagues abroad about the European Music Festival This year he is the soloist of the opening, performing Spanish Symphony for violin and orchestra by Edward Lalo. "The choice of this work is related to my youth. I have not played it for a long time. Now returning to its scores has made me feel younger”, the violinist admits. This is his first joint performance with conductor Luciano Di Martino who will hold the baton with the Classic FM Orchestra at the opening of the event.

English version: Rossitsa Petcova