There is hardly a good orchestra worldwide where Bulgarian instrumentalists have not worked. In the recent past and also today, Bulgarian musicians have had a good reputation abroad. One foremost representative of the golden generation of Bulgarian violinists is Prof. Georgi Badev who celebrated his 75^th birthday on 24 July.

In an interview for Radio Bulgaria the maestro revisits his childhood and his first violin teacher, his uncle Petar Hadjiangelov:

„In fact, he was the only violin teacher in the town of Vidin and trained many pupils. He was among the founders of the local symphony orchestra and its leader. He was a lawyer by profession. Thanks to my uncle I had the chance to visit the rehearsals of the orchestra and to listen to a range of masterpieces of classical music. Besides, the town’s brass band with conductor Borislav Mihaylov often gave concerts in the Danube Park. This was a special kind of experience and for kids a great way to get acquainted with the basics of music.”

Outstanding violin professor Vladimir Avramov had an important role to play for Georgi Badev’s violin training. The maestro goes back in time to the first time the two met:

„I was invited to meet with Prof. Avramov in Borislav Mihailov’s home. For that occasion the table was laid with most sophisticated food. I played the violin for a while. My uncle had given me his violin that was a bit too big for me. As I finished, Vladimir Avramov told me: ‘I give up my piece of cake for Georgi, because he played very well today.’ Those words strongly influenced my choice. I thought, ‘Well, he gives up his cake for me, what a teacher!’ Avramov advised my dad and the family to move to Sofia. It was very hard then to rent an apartment. Fortunately, my aunt used to live in the same building as the professor and all I had to do was go down the stairs for my violin lessons.”

Georgi Badev graduated the National Academy of Music in Sofia in the class of Prof. Vladimir Avramov. Badev is holder of various awards from prestigious violin competitions including the Queen Elizabeth Competition.One of its standard requirements is an interpretation of a sonata by Eugene Ysaÿe and the final round is a performance of a freshly written Concerto with only a week for rehearsals. „It was so challenging, with some of the most famous violinists of 20 c. sitting on the jury.It was then that I saw solid proof of the words of my professor who had once told me: ‘The greater the man, the humbler”, Georgi Badev recalls. Later on, he was lucky to study with one of those great musicians, Isaac Stern.

Prof. Badev is known to have a soft spot for contemporary serious music. Not all violinists from his generation are open to it. How did he come to love it?

„I am fortunate to have been friend with the greatest Bulgarian conductors, late Konstantin Iliev and Dobrin Petkov. Our joint work inspired me for contemporary music. In my youth we used to listen to the works of composers that had just become famous such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez,Luigi Nono and others… For the purpose we used an old Hungarian gramophone that we moved from home to home.”

Prof. Georgi Badev is regarded highly by the music community in Bulgaria. As a token of respect for the great musicians, his colleagues from Plovdiv will release a CD this summer with Concerto for Violin, Piano and a Quartet by Ernest Chausson.

English: Daniela Konstantinova

The audio to this file comprises the following pieces featuring violinist Prof. Georgi Badev as soloist:

1/ Song, by Franz Schubert, accompaniment by Bojidar Noev

2/Third Movement from Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, opus 100, by Johannes Brahms, accompaniment by Bojidar Noev

3/ Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Konstantin Iliev.

4/ Second Movement from Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major by Igor Stravinsky, with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Dobrin Petkov, a recording from the BNR Golden Archives