As pianist and pedagogue, Milena Mollova has an established name at home and abroad. Her high reputation shows in frequent invitations extended to her to join juries of prestigious European competitions. She has given concerts on several continents; has been working hard with young instrumentalists and has been making recordings with her colleagues. We interviewed her a few days ahead of her 75th birthday on 19 Feb.

In anticipation of her birthday, Milena Mollova goes back in time to her remarkable family:

"The Mollov family that I belong to has been known for quite some time. Earliest records about it date back to 1736 in the town of Elena. Most family members were educated, and some even were trained in Europe. However, they always returned to their motherland. Members of the family have been doctors, mathematicians, physicists, philologists, politicians, but never musicians. I am the first from the Mollov family to have ventured into music.”

The pianist's road to success has been thorny at times. However she was lucky to have come across some of the greatest names in Bulgarian music during her youth: Prof. Dimitar Nenov, Prof. Panka Pelishek, and also Emil Gilels in Russia. Work with young pianists has become an important part of her life. Her students have been teaching music in Washington DC, Norway, Singapore, Germany, Austria and Spain. More from Prof. Milena Mollova:

"Indeed, music is my life and everything is connected with it: my own children, my students, everything. From the very start I had the great chance to choose whom to transfer my experience to. I am happy that there is a very good-quality creative contact between us, and results have been quite rewarding.”

The pianist's repertoire selected in the course of 50 years of creative activity is quite extensive. Contemporary music has a special place in it. One example is Barocus Ex Machina, Concerto for Piano, Harpsichord, Cembalo & Chamber Orchestra by Gheorghi Arnaoudov. Prof. Milena Mollova played the work for the 110th anniversary of the National School of Music in Sofia marked at the end of 2014.

"I really love melodic contemporary music and I have provided enough evidence of that during my long career. Back in the 1980s I played a concerto by Samuel Barber with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. At that time it was a challenge to present an American composer. Also, I have always given a lot of attention to Bulgarian classics and to present-day Bulgarian composers. In 2000 Stefan Dragostinov composed especially for me and my daughter Milena Lazarova, a pianist too, the work Fugue Integra. We have presented it together in Bulgaria, Europe and China. I often give concerts in Asia and master classes too. Besides, for fifteen years now jointly with Prof. Erika Rademacher I have been organizing Swiss-Bulgarian festivals. The festival program comprises seven concerts in Bulgaria and seven ones in Bern, with at least two works written especially for the festival.”

Born in the Northeastern town of Shumen Prof. Milena Mollova is personally committed to one of the biggest piano competitions in Bulgaria, Pancho Vladigerov. She is founder and benefactor of the foundation that bears the name of the great 20 c. Bulgarian composer. With a touch of bitterness, the leading pianist tells us that with time his brilliant works are performed less frequently, the festival is hard to organize, and Pancho Vladigerov's legacy is threatened by oblivion.

In 2015 Prof. Milena Mollova plans recordings with violinist Mario Hossen - ten sonatas by Beethoven that the duo has already performed successfully in Bulgaria, Austria, Spain and Germany; a few sonatas by Brahms, as well as works by Bulgarian composers. Prof. Milena Mollova is going to play and teach in China, Switzerland, Vienna, Washington DC and Nis. With an adventurous spirit she continues to explore unknown territories in the infinite world of music.

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio file contains the following pieces:

1.  Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 7 by Beethoven in the rendition of Milena Mollova (piano) and Mario Hossen (violin)

2.  Barocus Ex Machina, Concerto for Piano, Harpsichord, Cembalo & Chamber Orchestra by Gheorghi Arnaoudov, performed by Milena Mollova

3.  Fragment from Concerto for Piano & Orchestra by Krassimir Kyurkchiiski, performed by Milena Mollova